Tourmaline (activist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tourmaline
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Tourmaline at MoMA, March 2016
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| Born | July 20, 1983 Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Other names | Formerly Known as Reina Gossett |
| Education | BA in comparative ethnic studies, Columbia University, 2006 |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Activist • filmmaker • writer • artist • photographer |
| Years active | 2010-Present |
| Relatives | Che Gossett (sibling) |
Tourmaline (born in 1983) is an American artist, filmmaker, and activist. She is a transgender woman who also identifies as queer. Tourmaline is well-known for her work helping transgender people and fighting for economic justice. She has worked with groups like the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and Queers for Economic Justice. Tourmaline lives in New York City.
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Early Life and Family
Tourmaline was born on July 20, 1983. She grew up in Massachusetts in a family that believed in equal rights for everyone. Her mother worked to organize unions, which are groups that protect workers' rights. Her father taught self-defense and worked to change the prison system. Tourmaline's sibling, Che Gossett, is also an activist, working on AIDS issues.
Tourmaline and Che went to a special school in Roxbury where they learned in two languages. Later, they attended schools in the suburbs. Tourmaline has shared that this was a big change, as they went from living with less money to going to school with very wealthy people.
Education and Early Work
In 2002, Tourmaline moved to New York City to study at Columbia University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Ethnic Studies. This field looks at how different groups of people are treated in society.
While at Columbia, Tourmaline taught creative writing classes. She did this through a school program called Island Academy at Rikers Island, a large jail. She also helped with student affairs at the university.
Activism and Community Work
Tourmaline has worked with many groups focused on transgender rights, economic fairness, and changing the prison system. She helped lead the membership for Queers for Economic Justice. She also served as the Director of Membership at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Tourmaline has often spoken about transgender issues at events for GLAAD, an organization that promotes understanding of LGBTQ+ people.
Working with Critical Resistance, Tourmaline helped organize a campaign. This effort involved low-income LGBTQ+ people. They successfully stopped the NYC Department of Corrections from building a new jail. Tourmaline also works to end the need for prisons. She created a video series called "No One is Disposable: Everyday Practices of Prison Abolition."
Tourmaline also works as a community historian. She collects and shares stories of drag queens and transgender people. She focuses on their experiences around the Stonewall Inn rebellion. Tourmaline notes that historical records often don't save materials from transgender artists. She tries to fix this by creating new projects. These include Tumblr blogs like The Spirit Was... and podcasts.
In 2017, Tourmaline helped edit a book called Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility. This book explores how transgender culture is created and seen.
Tourmaline received the BCRW Activist Fellowship in 2013. This award supported her work on transgender justice and prison reform. It also helped her document the histories of trans women of color. From 2016 to 2018, she was an Activist-in-Residence at Barnard Center for Research on Women.
Filmmaking Career
Tourmaline started making films in 2010. Her first film project was Taking Freedom Home by Kagendo Murungi. For this film, she collected stories from LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. These stories were about finding affordable housing, medical care, and social services.
In 2016, Tourmaline directed her first film, The Personal Things. This film features Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an older transgender activist. Miss Major shares her life story and experiences as an activist. Tourmaline won a Queer Art Prize in 2017 for this film. Tourmaline also worked as an assistant director on the film Mudbound. This movie was nominated for a Golden Globe.
In 2017, Tourmaline's art was shown at the New Museum in New York. The exhibition was called Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. In 2020, the Museum of Modern Art bought her 2019 film Salacia for its permanent collection. This film is about Mary Jones, a historical figure.
Visual Art Projects
Tourmaline creates art using many different materials and styles. In 2020, she made a self-portrait called Summer Azure. This artwork was shown at the Getty Museum in 2021. In Summer Azure, Tourmaline is the main subject. She is shown in a blue sky, wearing white clothes. This represents her support for Black trans lives.
Summer Azure is part of a series of five self-portraits by Tourmaline. Each photograph in the series is named after a different kind of butterfly. These photos were displayed at Tourmaline's first solo art show. It was called Pleasure Gardens and took place from December 2020 to January 2021. In 2021, The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought two of Tourmaline's works, including Summer Azure. They are displayed in an exhibit called Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room.
In the summer of 2020, Tourmaline was one of five artists asked to imagine new kinds of monuments. This was during a time when many people were discussing removing old statues. Tourmaline designed a "counter-monument" to replace The Rikers Island Prison Complex in New York City. She got ideas from two historical New York places. One was Nanny Goat Hill, part of Seneca Village. This was a community where Black and Irish people lived together in the 1820s. The second was Black-owned Pleasure Gardens. These were safe, fun places in New York City where Black people could enjoy fresh air and music. White-owned pleasure gardens often did not allow Black visitors.
Tourmaline's idea, Nanny Goat Hill Pleasure Gardens, celebrates the history of Black spaces. It shows how Black communities created their own places for joy and freedom. This project has not been built yet. However, Tourmaline wanted to create a plan for what is possible in the future.
Awards and Recognition
Tourmaline has received many honors for her important work:
- 2017 Queer Art Prize Finalist
- 2019 Stonewall Community Foundation Honoree
- Soros Justice Fellowship
- Her film Happy Birthday, Marsha! received a fellowship from filmmaker Ira Sachs's Queer/Art/Mentorship program in 2012–2013.
- 2020 Time 100 (named one of the 100 most influential people)
- 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship
