Inspired by her own transition, D Smith’s Kokomo City is a probing portrait of four Black trans women and sex workers in New York and Georgia. Here, she talks about why trans women are “extremely special”.
four Black trans women and sex workers in New York and Georgiacouldn’t be further away from the talking head documentary’s connotations of staid immobility. Edited with the energetic rhythm of a music video, itrazor-sharp work of political theory.The feature debut of Grammy-award-winning music producerwas birthed from hostility. When Smith went public with her transition, her music career ground to a halt.
DS: When you think of sex work, you think of being objectified. It’s like a bottle of water: you just use it and throw it away. And my God, trans sex workers – literally the bottom of the barrel to the world. But I was able to show how much that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s very difficult for trans women to mesh into the real world. When trans women are first transitioning, we look ‘clocky’; we don’t look as feminine. A lot of people don’t want to see that in their businesses: they don’t wanna see a trans woman trying to get it together, a trans man trying to get it together, between surgeries, between hormone replacement. It’s a very vulnerable space for trans people to be in.
DS: It was very important for me to create images that say, “Wow, she’s just not interviewing. She actually has a POV as a director.” So I asked Dominique, “Let me go through your closet. Let me see a sexy dress that you have.” She pulled out that dress. It was latex, so sexy, so provocative, but the silhouette was very classic. I was like,She’s so gorgeous, she’s so sickening. I just fucking love her. She’s a quintessential New York girl, you know, she just happens to be transgender.
I asked her, “I want something very powerful and iconic. I want you to stand in your absolute transgenderism, full confidence and safety, knowing that you’re being shot by a trans woman in your home. It’s just us.
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