Continuing our series of posts introducing the many speakers who will be giving talks during the LGBT History Festival at M Shed next February. Travis Alabanza will be presenting “LGBT History: is it all one shade?” as part of the National History Day on Saturday, February 20th.
Travis Alabanza is a Black, queer, femme kid that is living, studying, creating and surviving in London. With their gender being described as nowhere near found, they write, perform, speak and curate around topics surrounding gender, sexuality, Blackness, class and being femme. Currently the LGBT+ president at King’s College London university, successfully leading the gender neutral toilet campaign at their college this year, they say they have been disrupting spaces that were not created for them since being raised in Bristol — having been involved in local Bristol LGBT+ charities EACH and ENVISION — with their project for educational LGBT+ resources winning a Diana award.
Since then their writing has appeared in numerous publications such as Black Girl Dangerous, Manon, Prancing Through Life, Beyond the Binary and Wildabout. Outside of studying they also perform poetry and performance art around venues in London, recently performing at Oxford Queer Week, Hackney Attic and Southbank Centre — with their poetry being published in the Anthology Black and Gay in the UK. Travis enjoys connecting with other Black queer folks through finding good places to eat and dance, and says their work and personhood is strongly influenced by the strength of their mother and the soul of their council estate where they grew up. You can find them on twitter @trvisalabanza and soundcloud ‘travis alabanza’.