“No dawn can change how we remember American/ in this America,” poet Golden writes in “REPRISE.” “The caged tongues, severed sovereignties, the American/ assassinations.”
As a Black, gender-nonconforming, trans poet and photographer, Golden makes work they call “a documentation of black trans life at the intersection of surviving and living in the United States.” They’ll perform “REPRISE” twice during the Museum of Fine Arts Juneteenth free open house Monday, June 19.
The poem is at once a blistering indictment of American racism and transphobia and a heartfelt ode to family, interweaving images of violence and love, symbols of institutional power, and sweet memories. It harks back to history and critiques conditions now, as hate crimes against Black people and members of the LGBTQ community are on the rise.
Advertisement
Golden sees parallels between their art and that in the MFA’s exhibition “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina,” which highlights the ceramics of an enslaved man known first only as Dave the Potter and now identified as David Drake. Drake also wrote poetry at a time when literacy among many enslaved people was illegal.
“Dave’s drive to name the pots, and to write poetry, is something I have mirrored in my own work,” Golden said over Zoom from their studio in Brooklyn, where they moved from Boston last year. “My focus is on Black trans individuals and Black queer individuals, and how naming oneself and being able to write your own history is powerful on its own.”
Last August, Golden published “A Dead Name that Learned How to Live,” a book of poems and self-portraits. (“Dead name” refers to the name a trans person was assigned at birth, which they no longer use.)
“It’s the whole journey of my life,” they said.
Advertisement
A second book of poetry and self-portraits, also called “REPRISE,” is due out from Haymarket Books in 2025.
The MFA invited Golden to participate in its Table of Voices program, in which community leaders, artists, and scholars informed curatorial decisions during the planning of “Hear Me Now.” That led to more collaboration: the “REPRISE” performance, and a photo shoot the artist orchestrated in the Art of the Americas wing. The MFA posted one of those photographs on social media in May.
That image features Golden and February Spikener, another Black trans artist, sitting in front of John Singleton Copley’s heroic painting “Watson and the Shark,” which depicts crew members trying to save a cabin boy from a shark.
“How iconic would it be to be like, ‘We don’t care about this scene of this person trying to be saved’?” Golden said. “What does it mean to sit in front of this image and to have that not be the subject, but have us be the subject?”
The artist posed solo in front of Thomas Sully’s “The Passage of the Delaware” painting of George Washington. In an institution that has historically held up white men, Golden is shifting the focus.
“Think about what it means to be inside the MFA, to go into the Art of the Americas wing and see the representation of identity there,” said Kristen Hoskins, the museum’s director of public programs. “This is a beloved piece in the collection, and having Golden do their photo shoot flips the script and brings it to today,”
Advertisement
In “REPRISE,” Golden obliquely refers to sharks in an oceanic stanza that mentions killer whales, watchful seals, and a great white America.
Family and community are crucial in the face of hate. Golden, 26, is close to their family in Hampton, Virginia.
“I grew up in a space where I was very Black, and my family has always been very proud to be Black,” Golden said. “I grew up in homes that were lined with family photos.”
Some of those portraits flash over a video monitor during their performance of “REPRISE.”
The opening stanza features Golden’s family feasting on watermelon on their deck. It’s also laced with violence. There’s a “watermelon wound.” “Dad beats the bleeds out of our t-shirts,” the poet writes.
“The only love I really have for America is because of this love for Black people and family,” Golden said. “My Pop Pop is a photographer and my Grannie is a poet, so I feel like I got an inspiration from them,” they added.
For this artist, one craft informs the other. “I approach my photography as a poet, and I approach my poetry as a photographer,” they said.
They remembered working on a recent self-portrait.
“I was sitting on my porch in my home in Hampton, and I was like, ‘Oh, the lighting is really good. I have to get this light.’ Then my brain starts to think about color, and ‘what outfits do I have access to right here?’ Next, I just start thinking about the feeling,” Golden said. “I have that same process in my poetry.”
Advertisement
Both, it seems, are a necessity and a salve for the artist.
“I need to process the world,” Golden said, “and that’s just the way I do it.”
JUNETEENTH
Free open house. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., to the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org/event/open-house/juneteenth?event=3253
Cate McQuaid can be reached at catemcquaid@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @cmcq.