Gender In Motion

Queer Philly poets discuss and read work in response to Women in Motion: 150 Years of Women's Artistic Networks at PAFA to close out Pride month. Through performance and conversation, Anjani, Kai Davis, Mateo Genoveva, and Sanam Sheriff will explore why Queer and Trans poets create supportive networks and how Queer literary communities create space and opportunity for one another. Gender In Motion, created and directed by Kai Davis, will be staged in the Historic Landmark Building's Rotunda for this one-time performance and will illuminate how the evolving definitions of gender/sexuality have changed the landscape of literary and performance art in Philadelphia. 

Attendees are invited to visit the Women In Motion exhibition before the show. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Seats are limited. 

Gender in Motion is produced in partnership with The Philly Pigeon.

Kai Davis is a Black Queer multidisciplinary artist, performer, theater director and educator from Philadelphia. Her work explores Blackness, Queerness, womanhood, and the many ways these identities converge. Kai has been published in The Offing (2018), The Shade Journal (2019), and Mouths of Rain (2021) among others. In 2017 Kai received the Leeway Transformation Award for her art for social change work in Philadelphia and in 2020 she was named the NextFab x Leeway Artist in Residence. Kai currently works as Co-Organizer/Creative Director for The Philly Pigeon poetry showcase and retreat. 

Anjani is  a poet of Indian origin writing about her transgender experience, love, and loss. The stated intention of her art is to make others feel less alone in their life experiences. You'll most likely find her at the farmer's market, a punk show, or talking way to much while watching movies with her friends. 

Mateo (they/he) is a queer Muslim poet and first generation Moroccan and Venezuelan American. Their writing explores gender variance within the American Muslim experience, as well as queer love, survival of abuse and sexual violence, and more. They are born and raised in Maryland, now living in West Philly with their partner and cats.

Sanam Sheriff is a queer poet and artist from Bangalore, India. She has received support from the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, The Watering Hole, Pink Door, Seventh Wave, and is a Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Academy of American Poets, The Offing, Vinyl Poetry & Prose,  Black Warrior Review, Kweli Journal, Shade Literary Arts, DW B, and elsewhere. Sanam holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis. She currently resides in Philadelphia, PA, and is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College. Sanam is working, with much love, on her debut poetry collection.

Image (left to right): Sanam Sheriff, Anjani, Mateo Genoveva, and Kai Davis.