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{{Infobox person
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| name = Alok Vaid-Menon
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| education =
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| alma_mater = [[Stanford University]]
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| occupation = performance artist, activist, poet
| occupation = writer, performance artist, media personality
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'''Alok Vaid-Menon''' (born July 1, 1991), is an American performance artist, poet, and [[LGBTQ rights]] activist based in New York, New York, who performs under the name ALOK. Vaid-Menon identifies as [[gender non-conforming]] and [[transfeminine]] and uses ''[[singular they]]'' pronouns.<ref name=guardian-13oct2015>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/13/greater-transgender-visibility-hasnt-helped-nonbinary-people-like-me|title=Greater transgender visibility hasn't helped nonbinary people – like me - Alok Vaid-Menon|first=Alok|last=Vaid-Menon|date=13 October 2015|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="adv-11mar2016" />
'''Alok Vaid-Menon''' (born July 1, 1991) is an Indian-American writer, performance artist, and media personality who performs under the moniker ALOK. Alok is [[gender non-conforming]] and [[transfeminine]] and uses [[Singular they|''singular they'']] pronouns.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Reports|first=Alok Vaid-Menon via Creative Time|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/13/greater-transgender-visibility-hasnt-helped-nonbinary-people-like-me|title=Greater transgender visibility hasn't helped nonbinary people – like me {{!}} Alok Vaid-Menon|date=2015-10-13|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-20|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-alok-vaid-menon|title=“I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders”: An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|last=Thomas|first=Skye Arundhati|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

They are internationally renowned for their creative work which they have presented in over 40 countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2019/8/28/alok-vaid-menon-will-not-tone-it-down|title=Alok Vaid-Menon Will Not 'Tone it Down'|date=2019-08-28|website=www.advocate.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

As a mixed-media artist Alok uses poetry, comedy, performance, drag, lecture, sound-art, fashion design, self-portraiture, and social media to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging, and the human condition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alokvmenon.com/about|title=ABOUT|website=ALOK|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> Their artistry responds to violence against trans and gender non-conforming people, calling for freedom from constraining gender norms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-alok-vaid-menon|title=“I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders”: An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|last=Thomas|first=Skye Arundhati|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They advocate for bodily diversity, gender neutrality, and self-determination.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.papermag.com/alok-beauty-2629993229.html?rebelltitem=25#rebelltitem25?rebelltitem=25|title=ALOK: 'Beauty Is About Looking Like Yourself'|date=2019-03-01|website=PAPER|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/209746/body-hair-movement-instagram-backlash|title=The Body Hair Movement Isn't All Peach Fuzz & Happy Trails|last=Lubitz|first=Rachel|website=www.refinery29.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

In 2019 they advocated for the complete degendering of fashion and beauty industries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/video/voices-talk-alok-v-menon-gender-clothes-fashion|title=Why Genderless Fashion Is the Future|date=2019-11-22|website=The Business of Fashion|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>


== Early life and education ==
== Early life and education ==
Vaid-Menon grew up in [[College Station, Texas]] as the child of Malayali and Punjabi immigrant parents from Malaysia and India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/20/india/india-diaspora-series-alok-vaid-menon-intl/index.html|title=Life as a transgender person of color: 'I erased a part of me'|last=Sarkar|first=Monica|website=CNN|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> Growing up they were bullied for their race and gender expression.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wussymag.com/all/2019/6/19/how-art-created-alok-vaid-menon|title=How Art Created Alok Vaid-Menon|website=WUSSY MAG|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They felt that they were unable to come out on their own terms because as a visibly gender non-conforming person they didn’t know they were different until they were punished for it and told who they were.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/addiewagenknecht/2018/03/14/alok-on-gender-binaries-and-their-new-fashion-collection/|title=Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection|last=Wagenknecht|first=Addie|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They developed their art practice at a young age in response to this harassment. “Making art gave me the permission to live. I needed somewhere to put the pain.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wussymag.com/all/2019/6/19/how-art-created-alok-vaid-menon|title=How Art Created Alok Vaid-Menon|website=WUSSY MAG|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They began to use poetry and style to interrupt other peoples’ assumptions, challenge shame, and declare themselves on their own terms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.whowhatwear.com/transgender-models|title=6 Transgender Models Talk Activism, Identity, and Style|last=Fox-Suliaman|first=Jasmine|website=Who What Wear|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> Because they weren’t able to express themselves visually for fear of safety, they began to share their art online and received supportive responses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vervemagazine.in/people/looking-beyond-the-gender-binaries-with-queer-performance-artist-alok-vaid-menon|title=Looking Beyond The Gender Binaries With Queer Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|date=2018-10-23|website=Verve Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>
Vaid-Menon is from an [[Indian American]] family and grew up in [[College Station, Texas]].<ref name="youtube-22jun2015">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Gh2n9kPuA|title=The Pain & Empowerment of Choosing Your Own Gender: Alok Vaid-Menon|first=|last=|date=22 June 2015|publisher=StyleLikeU|accessdate=28 October 2017|via=YouTube}}</ref> They went to [[Stanford University]].<ref name="adv-11mar2016">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.advocate.com/think-trans/2016/3/11/these-trans-performance-artists-are-here-say-it-gets-bitter|last=Abeni|first=Cleis|title=These Trans Performance Artists Are Here to Say 'It Gets Bitter'|date=11 March 2016|magazine=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> Their parents were born in [[Thrissur]], [[Kerala]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-alok-vaid-menon|title=“I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders”: An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|last=Thomas|first=Skye Arundhati|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=2019-08-31}}</ref>


In 2019 Alok returned to College Station to host a Pride celebration with local LGBTQ community in honor of the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Stonewall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/video/going-beyond-the-binary-alok-vaid-menon-on-creating-safe-spaces-for-trans-and-gender-nonconforming-people-62309445906|title=Beyond the binary: Alok Vaid Menon is creating art — and safe spaces — for the gender-nonconforming community|website=NBC News|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

After leaving Texas Alok attended Stanford University where they graduated with a BA in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://feminist.stanford.edu/people/alumni/directory|title=Alumni {{!}} Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies|website=feminist.stanford.edu|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, as well as a Masters in Sociology in 2013.

<br />
== Career ==
== Career ==
=== Performance ===
Vaid-Menon's work attempts to normalize discussions of shame, trauma and violence against trans and gender non-conforming people of color.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alok-vaid-menon_n_5b27dae4e4b0783ae12bd140|title=Poet Alok Vaid-Menon: 'I Am Part Of Something Greater Than Myself'|last=Arora|first=Priya|date=2018-06-20|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=2019-04-27}}</ref> They have been featured on HBO, MTV, The Guardian, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The New Yorker and have presented their work at 400 venues in more than 40 countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anchoragepress.com/prismpress/alok-in-ak-performance-artist-poet-writer-and-educator-comes/article_fb979772-66b6-11e9-af29-7726f13744ed.html|title=Alok in AK: Performance artist, poet, writer and educator comes to Alaska|last=Johnson|first=R. J.|website=The Anchorage Press|language=en|access-date=2019-04-27}}</ref>
Alok’s performance style is known for stream of consciousness, soundscapes, political comedy, and emotional range.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scapimag.com/2018/06/20/life-as-a-form-of-art-meditations-on-alok-vaid-menon-and-lasaia-wades-femme-in-public/|title=Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade’s Femme in Public|last=Levsky|first=Danielle|date=2018-06-20|website=Scapi Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They remark that their style, like their identity, is in constant flux and refuses easy categorization<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/addiewagenknecht/2018/03/14/alok-on-gender-binaries-and-their-new-fashion-collection/|title=Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection|last=Wagenknecht|first=Addie|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> and believe that performance is one of the only spaces where people can actually be real anymore.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/02/alok-vaid-menon-wants-you-to-embrace-vulnerability-this-valentines-day/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine’s day|date=2019-02-14|website=Document Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> In this way, performance is about world-making where the audience can relate to one another with “a commitment to vulnerability, play, interdependence, and magic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/addiewagenknecht/2018/03/14/alok-on-gender-binaries-and-their-new-fashion-collection/|title=Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection|last=Wagenknecht|first=Addie|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> For Alok, the power of performance is precisely that it is ephemeral and can never be done again the same way.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/alok-vaid-menon-femme-in-public-now/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon: Femme in Public, Now|date=2018-08-28|website=Sixty Inches From Center|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They also use performance as a mode of pedagogy to teach theories and histories that have been submerged.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.exberliner.com/api/content/00587ace-75d7-11e7-9794-0a72cbefeab2/|title=Justice, not visibility: Alok Vaid-Menon|last=Liu|first=Crystal|date=2017-07-31|website=EXBERLINER.com|language=en-us|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>


=== ''Dark Matter'' ===
From 2013-2016, they co-created ''[[DarkMatter (spoken word)|Dark Matter]]'', a trans South Asian performance art duo, with Janani Balasubramanian.<ref name="huffpo-29mar2015">{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/29/assemblage-dark-matter_n_6957580.html|title=ASSEMBLAGE: Meet Queer Performance Artists Dark Matter|last=Nichols|first=JamesMichael|date=29 March 2015|website=[[Huffington Post]]|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="darkmatter">{{cite web|url=http://www.darkmatterpoetry.com|title=New year, new beginnings|website=www.darkmatterpoetry.com|accessdate=28 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028093127/http://www.darkmatterpoetry.com/|archive-date=28 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="out-17may2016">{{cite magazine|last=Lamphier|first=Jason|date=17 May 2016|title=Artists of DarkMatter: 'Let's Challenge the Standards of Trans Visibility'|url=https://www.out.com/hit-list/2016/5/17/artists-darkmatter-lets-challenge-standards-trans-visibility|magazine=[[Out (magazine)|Out]]|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref>


For Alok, living is a modality of art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scapimag.com/2018/06/20/life-as-a-form-of-art-meditations-on-alok-vaid-menon-and-lasaia-wades-femme-in-public/|title=Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade’s Femme in Public|last=Levsky|first=Danielle|date=2018-06-20|website=Scapi Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>
=== Fashion line ===
"There are no clothes for people like me, so I made my own," said Vaid-Menon in a them.us article.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.them.us/story/alok-vaid-menon-new-fashion-collection|title=There Are No Clothes for Nonbinary Femmes Like Me, So I Made My Own|last=Nast|first=Condé|website=them.|language=en|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref> They have designed three gender-neutral fashion collections. They released their third fashion collection in India, which emphasized colorful, printed clothing, and asserted that skirts and dresses are gender-neutral.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.papermag.com/alok-beauty-2629993229.html?rebelltitem=9|title=ALOK: 'Beauty Is About Looking Like Yourself'|date=2019-03-01|website=PAPER|language=en|access-date=2019-04-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/fashion/alok-vaid-menon-releases-inaugural-gender-neutral-fashion-collection/|title=Juxtapoz Magazine - Alok Vaid-Menon Releases Inaugural Gender-Neutral Fashion Collection|website=www.juxtapoz.com|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.out.com/fashion/2019/5/22/artist-alok-vaid-menons-fashion-line-challenges-industry-gatekeepers|title=Artist Alok Vaid-Menon's Fashion Line Challenges Industry Gatekeepers|date=2019-05-22|website=www.out.com|language=en|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref><br />


=== Poetry and performance ===
Vaid-Menon is known for incorporating ideas of trans-activism and identity into their poetry performances.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vervemagazine.in/people/looking-beyond-the-gender-binaries-with-queer-performance-artist-alok-vaid-menon|title=Looking Beyond The Gender Binaries With Queer Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|date=2018-10-23|website=Verve Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> They were featured in the 2016 documentary ''[[The Trans List]]''. In 2017, Vaid-Menon released their inaugural book of poetry, ''FEMME IN PUBLIC'', investigating queerness and transfemininity.<ref name="fempub">{{cite web|url=https://www.alokvmenon.com/store/femmeinpublic|title=Femme in Public Poetry Chapbook (Physical Copy)|website=Alok Vaid-Menon|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="out-13mar2017">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.out.com/art-books/2017/3/13/daily-crush-alok-vaid-menons-femme-public-poetry-book|last=Moran|first=Justin|title=Daily Crush: Alok Vaid-Menon's 'Femme in Public' Poetry Book|date=13 March 2017|magazine=Out|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> In early 2019, Vaid-Menon completed an artist in residence program at [[The Invisible Dog Art Center]], where they performed a piece entitled "Strangers are Potential Friends."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/02/alok-vaid-menon-wants-you-to-embrace-vulnerability-this-valentines-day/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine’s day|date=2019-02-14|website=Document Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref>


There are several themes that reoccur in Alok’s work. They unpack the dynamics of transmisogyny, reflect on the continued attack on trans and gender non-conforming people, and shift the representation of TGNC people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xvqev/alok-vaid-menon-on-building-a-transfeminine-future|title=Alok Vaid-Menon on Building a Transfeminine Future|last=Jagota|first=Vrinda|date=2017-12-24|website=Vice|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/alok-vaid-menon-femme-in-public-now/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon: Femme in Public, Now|date=2018-08-28|website=Sixty Inches From Center|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> In 2017, Alok released their inaugural book of poetry, ''FEMME IN PUBLIC'', a meditation on harassment against transfeminine people. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alokvmenon.com/store/femmeinpublicprint|title=Femme in Public (physical book)|website=ALOK|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>They toured a show associated with the book across the world, partnering with local trans artists and organizations, to advocate for trans justice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scapimag.com/2018/06/20/life-as-a-form-of-art-meditations-on-alok-vaid-menon-and-lasaia-wades-femme-in-public/|title=Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade’s Femme in Public|last=Levsky|first=Danielle|date=2018-06-20|website=Scapi Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> In VICE they write, “the majority of people still believe that trans is what we look like, and not who we are. We are reduced to the spectacle of our appearance.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xvqev/alok-vaid-menon-on-building-a-transfeminine-future|title=Alok Vaid-Menon on Building a Transfeminine Future|last=Jagota|first=Vrinda|date=2017-12-24|website=Vice|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> Alok advocates for transfeminine people to be regarded in their full personhood: “There is a long history of trans-femme bodies being reduced to metaphor, to symbol…and seen as stand-ins for ideas, fantasies, and nightmares.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-alok-vaid-menon|title=“I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders”: An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon|last=Thomas|first=Skye Arundhati|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They draw attention to the fact that even though gender non-conforming people are the most visible in public, they remain the most neglected by the mainstream LGBT movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.papermag.com/alok-beauty-2629993229.html?rebelltitem=25#rebelltitem25?rebelltitem=25|title=ALOK: 'Beauty Is About Looking Like Yourself'|date=2019-03-01|website=PAPER|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>
=== Modeling ===
Vaid-Menon walked in the opening ceremony for New York Fashion Week in September, 2018, and modeled for [[Chella Man]]'s Opening Ceremony Fashion Week 2019.


=== TV appearances ===
In 2018, Vaid-Menon appeared as themselves on in the second season of HBO's Random Acts of Flyness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/8/20/17757956/terence-nance-interview-random-acts-of-flyness|title=Terence Nance Is Indescribable|last=Herman|first=Alison|date=2018-08-20|website=The Ringer|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Random Acts of Flyness (TV Series 2018– ) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7942806/fullcredits|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref> Also in 2018, LogoTV selected them as part of the Logo 30.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.logotv.com/video-clips/47r67r/logo30-alok-vaid-menon-the-disrupter|title=Alok Vaid-Menon: The Disrupter - Logo30 (Video Clip) {{!}} LOGOtv|website=Logo TV|access-date=2019-11-15}}</ref> NBC selected Vaid-Menon as part of its Pride 50 in 2019, alongside [[James Baldwin]], [[Audre Lorde]], and [[Bayard Rustin]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pride-50-stonewall|title=NBC Out presents Pride50: LGBTQ people who are making the community proud|website=NBC News|language=en|access-date=2019-11-15}}</ref>


Alok is committed to challenging what they call “the international crisis of loneliness”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fashionmagazine.com/style/alok-vaid-menon/|title=Who Is Alok Vaid-Menon – And Why Is It Important You Know Their Name?|date=2019-04-09|website=FASHION Magazine|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> by creating public spaces for processing pain and establishing meaningful connection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/02/alok-vaid-menon-wants-you-to-embrace-vulnerability-this-valentines-day/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine’s day|date=2019-02-14|website=Document Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://https/%3A%2F%2Fwww.siegessaeule.de%2Fnews%2F3453-unflinchingly-femme-an-interview-with-alok-vaid-menon%2F|title=Unflinchingly femme: an interview with Alok Vaid-Menon|website=https|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> This work includes re-imagining and deploying technology as a conduit for intimacy.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wortham|first=Jenna|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/16/magazine/tech-design-instagram-gender.html,%20https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/16/magazine/tech-design-instagram-gender.html|title=On Instagram, Seeing Between the (Gender) Lines|date=2018-11-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2019, Alok completed an artist-in-residence program at [[The Invisible Dog Art Center]], where they performed a piece entitled "Strangers are Potential Friends” and hosted a “Valentine’s Cry-In” to create a space for public grief and explore alternative forms of intimacy and interdependence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/02/alok-vaid-menon-wants-you-to-embrace-vulnerability-this-valentines-day/|title=Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine’s day|date=2019-02-14|website=Document Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> Alok facilitates “Feelings Workshops” across the world to develop transformative ways of interacting with ourselves, one another, and as a way of promoting emotional justice and wellness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theinvisibledog.org/all/2020/2/2/alok-vaid-menon-in-residency|title=ALOK: Invisible Dog Artist-in-Residence|website=The Invisible Dog Art Center|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>
=== Writing ===

* Beyond the Gender Binary (2019)<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beyond the Gender Binary|last=VAID-MENON|first=Alok|publisher=Penguin Workshop|year=2019|isbn=9780593094655|location=New York|pages=}}</ref>

They challenge Western rationalism and an emphasis on reductive categories and instead insist on the complexity and enormity of everyone and everything.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.platform-mag.com/art/alok-vaid-menon.html|title=Alok Vaid Menon|website=www.platform-mag.com|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> They want to create work and ways of relating to each other that are less about being understood, and more about being felt. They believe that art is one of the places we can come closest to approximating truth. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune they write, “The problem with a category is that you reduce something as celestial as a human being into a word. Words only approximate truth, and art is where we go when we actually want truth<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ent-alok-vaid-menon-femme-in-public-pride-20180621-story.html|title=Performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon on why identity categories don't work — but stories do|last=Hawbaker|first=K. T.|website=chicagotribune.com|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

=== Fashion Design ===
Alok has designed three gender-neutral fashion collections, which are known for their joyful color and celebration of skirts and dresses as gender neutral. Fashion design became a “materialization of the life that [they were] living,” a way to encapsulate what they were writing and thinking. Their designs were at first inspired by imagining what they would wear if they didn’t have to fear violence. In their latest work, they are using fashion to challenge what kind of aesthetics are seen as natural and what are seen as artificial.

=== Public Speaking ===
Alok is a highly sought-after public speaker; among hundreds of festivals, universities, and conferences they have spoken at the Oxford University Global Scholars Symposium (2016), Creative Time Summit (2017), the NYTimes Global Assembly (2019), South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2019, the Tribeca Film Festival (2019), and the Business of Fashion Voices Conference (2019)

=== Selected Live Performances ===
2014—Queer New York International Arts Festival

2015--- Lincoln Center La Casita Festival

2015, 2016—Public Theater Under the Radar Festival Festival

2017—Centrale Fies Drodesera Festival

2017—Naked Heart Festival Toronto

2018—Keynote Performance - Transgender Europe Conference, Antwerp

2018—Keynote Performance - Gender Unbound Festival Austin

2019—Spoken Fest Mumbai

2019—Keynote Performance -- OUTShine EGALE Conference Fredericton, New Brunswick

=== Selected Performance Venues ===
Museum of Modern Art, Andy Warhol Museum, Asian American Writers Workshop, La Mama Experimental Theater, The Public Theater, The Mercury Lounge, Abrons Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum, Warehouse9, The Garrison, 7 Stages Theater,, Marlborough Theater, Kampnagel, Dansstationen, La Peña Cultural Center, CounterPulse, Pipe Factory Gallery, Hackney Showroom, The Arnolfini, Asian Arts Initiative, Kochi Biennale, Compagnietheater, Centrale Fies, SF MoMA
<br />

=== Published Writing ===

* Femme in Public (2017)
* Femme in Public (2017)

* “Entertainment Value” in Unwatchable (Rutgers University Press) (2019)

* Beyond the Gender Binary (2020)

<br />

=== TV and Film Appearances ===

* Netflix “What I Wish You Knew: Mental Health Roundtable” (2020)

* “Gender Diversity & Identity In Queertopia” Backlight National Dutch Documentary (2019)

* HBO Random Acts of Flyness (2018)

* HBO The Trans List (2016)

* Refinery 29 “Love Me” (2016)

<br />

=== Selected Podcast Appearances ===

* Metaphysical Milkshake with Rainn Wilson (2020)

* The Margaret Cho Podcast (2019)

* On Second Thought with Trevor Noah (2019)

* Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness (2019)

<br />

=== Modeling ===
Alok has walked for several fashion brands for New York Fashion Week including Opening Ceremony, Studio 189, and Chromat. They have modeled for several brands including Opening Ceremony, Harry’s, and Polaroid Eyewear. They have appeared in fashion magazines and editorials including VOGUE, Vogue Italia, BUST Magazine, Wussy Mag, and Paper Magazine.
<br />

=== Awards/Recognition ===

* LIVE WORKS Performance Act Award (2017)

* VOGUE: 9 Trans + Gender Non-Conforming Writers You Should Know (2018)

* LogoTV Pride 30 (2018)

* NBC Pride 50 alongside James Baldwin and Audre Lorde (2019)

* OUT Magazine 100 (2019)


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 21:06, 20 March 2020

Alok Vaid-Menon
BornJuly 1, 1991
Alma materStanford University
Occupation(s)writer, performance artist, media personality
Known forLGBTQ rights advocacy
Websitewww.alokvmenon.com

Alok Vaid-Menon (born July 1, 1991) is an Indian-American writer, performance artist, and media personality who performs under the moniker ALOK. Alok is gender non-conforming and transfeminine and uses singular they pronouns.[1] [2]

They are internationally renowned for their creative work which they have presented in over 40 countries.[3]

As a mixed-media artist Alok uses poetry, comedy, performance, drag, lecture, sound-art, fashion design, self-portraiture, and social media to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging, and the human condition.[4] Their artistry responds to violence against trans and gender non-conforming people, calling for freedom from constraining gender norms.[5] They advocate for bodily diversity, gender neutrality, and self-determination.[6][7]

In 2019 they advocated for the complete degendering of fashion and beauty industries.[8]

Early life and education

Vaid-Menon grew up in College Station, Texas as the child of Malayali and Punjabi immigrant parents from Malaysia and India.[9] Growing up they were bullied for their race and gender expression.[10] They felt that they were unable to come out on their own terms because as a visibly gender non-conforming person they didn’t know they were different until they were punished for it and told who they were.[11] They developed their art practice at a young age in response to this harassment. “Making art gave me the permission to live. I needed somewhere to put the pain.”[12] They began to use poetry and style to interrupt other peoples’ assumptions, challenge shame, and declare themselves on their own terms.[13] Because they weren’t able to express themselves visually for fear of safety, they began to share their art online and received supportive responses.[14]

In 2019 Alok returned to College Station to host a Pride celebration with local LGBTQ community in honor of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.[15]

After leaving Texas Alok attended Stanford University where they graduated with a BA in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies[16] and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, as well as a Masters in Sociology in 2013.


Career

Performance

Alok’s performance style is known for stream of consciousness, soundscapes, political comedy, and emotional range.[17] They remark that their style, like their identity, is in constant flux and refuses easy categorization[18] and believe that performance is one of the only spaces where people can actually be real anymore.[19] In this way, performance is about world-making where the audience can relate to one another with “a commitment to vulnerability, play, interdependence, and magic.[20] For Alok, the power of performance is precisely that it is ephemeral and can never be done again the same way.[21] They also use performance as a mode of pedagogy to teach theories and histories that have been submerged.[22]


For Alok, living is a modality of art.[23]


There are several themes that reoccur in Alok’s work. They unpack the dynamics of transmisogyny, reflect on the continued attack on trans and gender non-conforming people, and shift the representation of TGNC people.[24][25] In 2017, Alok released their inaugural book of poetry, FEMME IN PUBLIC, a meditation on harassment against transfeminine people. [26]They toured a show associated with the book across the world, partnering with local trans artists and organizations, to advocate for trans justice.[27] In VICE they write, “the majority of people still believe that trans is what we look like, and not who we are. We are reduced to the spectacle of our appearance.”[28] Alok advocates for transfeminine people to be regarded in their full personhood: “There is a long history of trans-femme bodies being reduced to metaphor, to symbol…and seen as stand-ins for ideas, fantasies, and nightmares.”[29] They draw attention to the fact that even though gender non-conforming people are the most visible in public, they remain the most neglected by the mainstream LGBT movement.[30]


Alok is committed to challenging what they call “the international crisis of loneliness”[31] by creating public spaces for processing pain and establishing meaningful connection.[32][33] This work includes re-imagining and deploying technology as a conduit for intimacy.[34] In 2019, Alok completed an artist-in-residence program at The Invisible Dog Art Center, where they performed a piece entitled "Strangers are Potential Friends” and hosted a “Valentine’s Cry-In” to create a space for public grief and explore alternative forms of intimacy and interdependence.[35] Alok facilitates “Feelings Workshops” across the world to develop transformative ways of interacting with ourselves, one another, and as a way of promoting emotional justice and wellness.[36]


They challenge Western rationalism and an emphasis on reductive categories and instead insist on the complexity and enormity of everyone and everything.[37] They want to create work and ways of relating to each other that are less about being understood, and more about being felt. They believe that art is one of the places we can come closest to approximating truth. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune they write, “The problem with a category is that you reduce something as celestial as a human being into a word. Words only approximate truth, and art is where we go when we actually want truth[38]

Fashion Design

Alok has designed three gender-neutral fashion collections, which are known for their joyful color and celebration of skirts and dresses as gender neutral. Fashion design became a “materialization of the life that [they were] living,” a way to encapsulate what they were writing and thinking. Their designs were at first inspired by imagining what they would wear if they didn’t have to fear violence. In their latest work, they are using fashion to challenge what kind of aesthetics are seen as natural and what are seen as artificial.

Public Speaking

Alok is a highly sought-after public speaker; among hundreds of festivals, universities, and conferences they have spoken at the Oxford University Global Scholars Symposium (2016), Creative Time Summit (2017), the NYTimes Global Assembly (2019), South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2019, the Tribeca Film Festival (2019), and the Business of Fashion Voices Conference (2019)

Selected Live Performances

2014—Queer New York International Arts Festival

2015--- Lincoln Center La Casita Festival

2015, 2016—Public Theater Under the Radar Festival Festival

2017—Centrale Fies Drodesera Festival

2017—Naked Heart Festival Toronto

2018—Keynote Performance - Transgender Europe Conference, Antwerp

2018—Keynote Performance - Gender Unbound Festival Austin

2019—Spoken Fest Mumbai

2019—Keynote Performance -- OUTShine EGALE Conference Fredericton, New Brunswick

Selected Performance Venues

Museum of Modern Art, Andy Warhol Museum, Asian American Writers Workshop, La Mama Experimental Theater, The Public Theater, The Mercury Lounge, Abrons Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum, Warehouse9, The Garrison, 7 Stages Theater,, Marlborough Theater, Kampnagel, Dansstationen, La Peña Cultural Center, CounterPulse, Pipe Factory Gallery, Hackney Showroom, The Arnolfini, Asian Arts Initiative, Kochi Biennale, Compagnietheater, Centrale Fies, SF MoMA

Published Writing

  • Femme in Public (2017)
  • “Entertainment Value” in Unwatchable (Rutgers University Press) (2019)
  • Beyond the Gender Binary (2020)


TV and Film Appearances

  • Netflix “What I Wish You Knew: Mental Health Roundtable” (2020)
  • “Gender Diversity & Identity In Queertopia” Backlight National Dutch Documentary (2019)
  • HBO Random Acts of Flyness (2018)
  • HBO The Trans List (2016)
  • Refinery 29 “Love Me” (2016)


Selected Podcast Appearances

  • Metaphysical Milkshake with Rainn Wilson (2020)
  • The Margaret Cho Podcast (2019)
  • On Second Thought with Trevor Noah (2019)
  • Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness (2019)


Modeling

Alok has walked for several fashion brands for New York Fashion Week including Opening Ceremony, Studio 189, and Chromat. They have modeled for several brands including Opening Ceremony, Harry’s, and Polaroid Eyewear. They have appeared in fashion magazines and editorials including VOGUE, Vogue Italia, BUST Magazine, Wussy Mag, and Paper Magazine.

Awards/Recognition

  • LIVE WORKS Performance Act Award (2017)
  • VOGUE: 9 Trans + Gender Non-Conforming Writers You Should Know (2018)
  • LogoTV Pride 30 (2018)
  • NBC Pride 50 alongside James Baldwin and Audre Lorde (2019)
  • OUT Magazine 100 (2019)

References

  1. ^ Reports, Alok Vaid-Menon via Creative Time (2015-10-13). "Greater transgender visibility hasn't helped nonbinary people – like me | Alok Vaid-Menon". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  2. ^ Thomas, Skye Arundhati. ""I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders": An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon". The Caravan. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  3. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon Will Not 'Tone it Down'". www.advocate.com. 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  4. ^ "ABOUT". ALOK. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  5. ^ Thomas, Skye Arundhati. ""I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders": An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon". The Caravan. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  6. ^ "ALOK: 'Beauty Is About Looking Like Yourself'". PAPER. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  7. ^ Lubitz, Rachel. "The Body Hair Movement Isn't All Peach Fuzz & Happy Trails". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  8. ^ "Why Genderless Fashion Is the Future". The Business of Fashion. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  9. ^ Sarkar, Monica. "Life as a transgender person of color: 'I erased a part of me'". CNN. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  10. ^ "How Art Created Alok Vaid-Menon". WUSSY MAG. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  11. ^ Wagenknecht, Addie. "Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  12. ^ "How Art Created Alok Vaid-Menon". WUSSY MAG. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  13. ^ Fox-Suliaman, Jasmine. "6 Transgender Models Talk Activism, Identity, and Style". Who What Wear. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  14. ^ "Looking Beyond The Gender Binaries With Queer Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon". Verve Magazine. 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  15. ^ "Beyond the binary: Alok Vaid Menon is creating art — and safe spaces — for the gender-nonconforming community". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  16. ^ "Alumni | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies". feminist.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  17. ^ Levsky, Danielle (2018-06-20). "Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade's Femme in Public". Scapi Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  18. ^ Wagenknecht, Addie. "Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  19. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine's day". Document Journal. 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  20. ^ Wagenknecht, Addie. "Alok On Gender Binaries And Their New Fashion Collection". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  21. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon: Femme in Public, Now". Sixty Inches From Center. 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  22. ^ Liu, Crystal (2017-07-31). "Justice, not visibility: Alok Vaid-Menon". EXBERLINER.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  23. ^ Levsky, Danielle (2018-06-20). "Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade's Femme in Public". Scapi Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  24. ^ Jagota, Vrinda (2017-12-24). "Alok Vaid-Menon on Building a Transfeminine Future". Vice. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  25. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon: Femme in Public, Now". Sixty Inches From Center. 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  26. ^ "Femme in Public (physical book)". ALOK. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  27. ^ Levsky, Danielle (2018-06-20). "Life as a Form of Art: Meditations on Alok Vaid-Menon and LaSaia Wade's Femme in Public". Scapi Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  28. ^ Jagota, Vrinda (2017-12-24). "Alok Vaid-Menon on Building a Transfeminine Future". Vice. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  29. ^ Thomas, Skye Arundhati. ""I Understand the Project of Trans-Feminism To Be About the Liberation of All Genders": An Interview With the Poet and Performance Artist Alok Vaid-Menon". The Caravan. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  30. ^ "ALOK: 'Beauty Is About Looking Like Yourself'". PAPER. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  31. ^ "Who Is Alok Vaid-Menon – And Why Is It Important You Know Their Name?". FASHION Magazine. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  32. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine's day". Document Journal. 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  33. ^ "Unflinchingly femme: an interview with Alok Vaid-Menon". https. Retrieved 2020-03-20. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  34. ^ Wortham, Jenna (2018-11-16). "On Instagram, Seeing Between the (Gender) Lines". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  35. ^ "Alok Vaid-Menon wants you to embrace vulnerability this Valentine's day". Document Journal. 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  36. ^ "ALOK: Invisible Dog Artist-in-Residence". The Invisible Dog Art Center. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  37. ^ "Alok Vaid Menon". www.platform-mag.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  38. ^ Hawbaker, K. T. "Performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon on why identity categories don't work — but stories do". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
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