4 queer and trans happenings to wind you up or down beginning Feb. 25

What to watch

Lupe

The debut feature film, Lupe, by Boston-based directors André Phillips and Charles Vuolo is available to stream on HBO Max and premieres on HBO Latino on Feb. 26. The LGBTQ2S+ immigrant story explores the complex world of Rafael (Rafael Albarrán), a Cuban immigrant struggling with their gender identity while searching for their long-lost sister, Isabel, in New York City’s underground sex industry. As Rafael tries to save their sister from exploitation, the need to understand their own trans identity continues to grow. The film is bilingual, moving between English and Spanish. 

Lupe directed by André Phillips and Charles Vuolo is available to stream on HBO Max and HBO Latino in the U.S. on Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. EST.

What to read

untold: defining moments of the uprooted edited by Gabrielle Deonath and Kamini Ramdeen

The anthology untold: defining moments of the uprooted edited by Guyanese-American authors Gabrielle Deonath and Kamini Ramdeen will be available for purchase on Mar. 2. The online publication Brown Girl Magazine collected 32 intimate stories from emerging writers that explore the South Asian experience in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The stories look at personal accounts of immigration, mental health, infertility, sexual orientation, gender identity, colourism, racism, religion and more. The collection of voices highlights the truth of living as a woman with hyphenated identities that have been silenced for too long.

untold: defining moments of the uprooted edited by Gabrielle Deonath and Kamini Ramdeen will be available for purchase on Amazon in the U.S. and Canada on Mar. 2.

What to listen to

American Queer, Vol. 3: Third Times a Charm by Bryce Quartz

Gay rapper Bryce Quartz is releasing his latest mixtape, American Queer, Vol. 3: Third Times a Charm, on Mar. 1. The new release is the final chapter in his American Queer Trilogy, a mixtape collection that reflects on coming into one’s queerness and artistry. Third Times a Charm references the rapper’s three-fold experience of coming out, and features songs like the opening diss track “Canceled!” and the remix of “Game Over!” (featuring Hi Yello). Quartz collaborated with RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Brita Filter and the notable bearded drag queen KayKay Lavelle in October for, “You Brita Vote, Kay?,” the queer pop voting anthem.

The mixtape American Queer, Vol. 3: Third Times a Charm by Bryce Quartz will be available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify on Mar. 1.

What to look at

Hockney in Normandy

The influential gay British artist David Hockney is now presenting his eleventh solo exhibition at the Richard Gray Gallery in New York, Hockney in Normandy, until Mar. 19. The exhibition showcases a new suite of landscape prints, ink drawings on paper and iPad drawings, created at his home in Normandy. In-person and virtual viewings are available by appointment, but a viewing room is accessible on the gallery’s website.

David Hockney’s solo exhibition, Hockney in Normandy, is now on view in-person and virtually until Mar. 19. Appointments can be made here.