The Special Collection was a performance project created in collaboration with Joy Brooke Fairfield that is set in the Archive of Life Altering Gender Feelings. Trans archivist Leo is working on a finding aid that highlights evidence of trans and nonbinary tenderness and care in the archive as their life is sort of falling apart. The piece seeks to both explore and activate existing trans archives and to create opportunities through development and performance to contribute more stories, experiences, and lives to the archive. 

We were interested in the way our work on The Special Collection extends beyond the product and can create connections and build new alliances in the search for community and care amongst trans and queer people. Connecting our own history, experiences, and creative work through our distanced collaboration during a global pandemic allowed us to practice that care with one another by offering space for reflection and creation that includes a lot of tenderness. Our initial goal for The Special Collection was to make a piece that could travel easily and be performed for small groups in queer community centers, public and academic libraries, at festivals and within actual archives. Our larger hope is to build on our existing collaborations and communities, creating sustainable creative processes connecting trans/nonbinary people in virtual and physical spaces as a part of the larger political projects designed to increase justice and build power.

The Special Collection had developmental support from Network of Ensemble Theaters with a NET/TEN Remote Connection Mini-Grant and from The Syndicate. Leigh and Joy presented a short excerpt from the work in progress at Relations of Care Across and After Worlds, a virtual conference at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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