Fatima Jamal

Last updated
Fatima Jamal
Born
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesFatFemme
Alma mater Morehouse College
The New School
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, model, interdisciplinary artist
Known forNo Fats, No Femmes, Pose
Website fatimajamal.com

Fatima Jamal is an American filmmaker, model, writer, and interdisciplinary artist. A Black transgender woman who goes by the moniker "Fat Femme," Jamal is also an activist who speaks and makes art about social issues including racism, body positivity, and LGBTQ rights. [1]

Contents

Biography

Jamal was born in Atlanta, Georgia and attended Morehouse College. [2] She completed a graduate program at The New School, where she studied documentary filmmaking. [3] Jamal underwent her gender transition after finishing graduate school. [3] She credits her move from Atlanta to New York City as giving her the opportunity to thrive. [4]

Career

About her art, Jamal has said, "My art really focuses on a black, queer, femme experience because those are all things that I'm interested in. I will never grow tired of capturing black, queer, and trans people and excavating our histories." [4]

Acting and Modeling

Jamal has modeled on runways at New York Fashion Week, is a fixture of the ballroom scene, and has appeared in the TV show Pose. [4] She was the first black trans model to walk the runway for a major menswear fashion house, for Stefano Pilati's unisex line in fall 2020. [5]

Jamal starred in Tourmaline's film Atlantic is a Sea Bones (2017), which takes its title from an eponymous poem by Lucille Clifton. [6] The film concerns black queer history in New York City. [7]

Directorial Work

In 2020, Jamal began a crowdfunding campaign on the website Indiegogo to support a documentary, No Fats, No Femmes, that Jamal is writing and directing. According to her fundraising campaign, the film "examines and troubles how the gazes of others — particularly dominant white gazes — inform how we see ourselves and each other. In it, I center and am fascinated by my own Black, fat body as a site of criticism; and, an invitation inward, toward self — often, a self un-done, vulnerable, and terrifying." As of September 2020, the campaign had raised more than $55,000. [8] The project was featured in Artforum in July 2020. [9]

Legacy

Jamal has been cited as a source of inspiration by other contemporary artists. [10] Gabriel Garcia Román's “Queer Icons” series of paintings (started in 2011), which honors queer activists and artists, includes a portrait of Jamal. [11]

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References

  1. "Fatima Jamal, aka 'Fat Femme'; Artist, Author-Activist and Model". The Root. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  2. Greenwood, Douglas (2019-02-11). "how to live a radical existence, with fatima jamal". i-D. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  3. 1 2 Anderson, Tre'vell (2020-04-03). "With 'No Fats, No Femmes,' Fatima Jamal aims for more than just visibility and representation". Xtra. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  4. 1 2 3 Thompson, Tracy (2018-11-07). "Fatima Jamal Is Styling". Jezebel. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  5. Abad, Mario (2020-01-13). "Fatima Jamal (FatFemme) Made History on Florence Runway". PAPER. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  6. Casid, Jill H. (2019). "Doing things with being undone". Journal of Visual Culture. 18 (1): 38–42. doi: 10.1177/1470412919825817 . S2CID   194658508.
  7. Muna, Mire (October 16, 2020). "Tourmaline Summons the Queer Past". Frieze . 214.
  8. "No Fats, No Femmes". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  9. "PROJECT: FATIMA JAMAL". Artforum . July/August 2020. July 2020.
  10. "2020's MFA Grads on What It Means to Be an Artist Today". Artsy. 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2021-01-15. Java Jones: "While in the studio, I often refer to this question Fatima Jamal posed in an Xtra interview: "Representation and visibility is given to us by larger power structures, but what do we give ourselves?""
  11. Durón, Maximilíano (2019-06-10). "Leslie-Lohman Museum Will Stage Procession of 'Queer Icons' During NYC Pride March". ARTNews. Retrieved 2021-01-15.