This June, creative producer Jordan Anderson is looking to change how proud queerness is thought about. Growing up in Jamaica, he never saw himself represented in queer discourse as a young, gay, Black boy. ‘My perception of pride was always a very classic American, white-washed view,’ he writes, ‘it was always about white gays with chiseled bodies and, at the same time, having to suppress the queer part of ourselves for living in a homophobic society.’
With his new project My Queer Blackness, My Black Queerness, Jordan hopes to change that outdated perception of pride, one that unfortunately tends to dominate discussions within the LGBTQIA+ movement. ‘What I’m trying to do is to create a virtual space to own these multiple facets of ourselves, to own being Black and gay, or black and trans, or black and non-binary, sans the approval of anyone else.’
The project aims to denounce the racism and homophobia inflicted on Black queer people ‘by way of art, film and literature’, taking the form of online film screenings, a digital journal, and a print sale fundraiser. The print sale is the crown jewel of Jordan’s initiative, featuring the works of 12 photographers including Tim Walker, Campbell Addy, and Michael Bailey Gates — each piece falls under the theme of celebrating Black queer beauty.
Each weekend over the next three weeks, MQBMBQ will screen an iconic Marlon Riggs film exploring the history of the Black queer experience. Additionally, the project’s website will host a journal, updated weekly, that will showcase the stories of different trans men, women, and people of colour around the world, together with remote photography by Damien Frost.
My Queer Blackness, My Black Queerness is live now at www.mqbmbq.com