{"id":43385,"date":"2022-04-25T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/?p=43385"},"modified":"2022-04-26T14:39:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T13:39:58","slug":"nina-champs-speaks-up-on-trans-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ket.brussels\/en\/2022\/04\/25\/nina-champs-speaks-up-on-trans-representation\/","title":{"rendered":"Nina Champs speaks up on trans representation \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We cannot miss Nina Champs<\/a>! The artist has been so present in the Belgian queer scene for the last two years mainly in Li\u00e8ge but more and more in Brussels as well. She\u2019s the co-founder of Les Bastards collective<\/a> and TransP\u00e9d\u00e9Gouines<\/a> where she\u2019s DJing. She co-wrote her first play \u201cHurler \u00e0 la mer\u201d about living with HIV and she\u2019s proudly speaking up for trans and HIV activism on AIDES<\/a>, Plateforme Pr\u00e9vention Sida<\/a>, Vews<\/a> or Paint<\/a>. After becoming a model for inclusive underwear brand La Fille d\u2019O<\/a>, she\u2019s now becoming an actress in P. Estingoy<\/a>\u2019s short movie \u201cLes \u00c2mes Sourdes\u201d and dancing in Simon Fransquet<\/a> and Alice On The Roof<\/a> new video clip \u201cCaught In A Gender Game<\/a>\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We met with Nina to discuss all of this and also catch a glimpse of the future \u201cPraise\u201d project: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nina, you are already an artist with multiple hats but we will soon find you in front of the camera. Could you tell us more about the short film “Les \u00c2mes Sourdes”? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Les \u00c2mes Sourdes” is the first short film directed by L\u00e9one P. Estingoy, a graduating student of IAD<\/a>. It tells the story of Marvin and Valanda. Marvin is a young man in a toxic masculinity environment who meets Valanda. We understand that there is a relationship going on between the two of them. Valanda is a transgender woman who has been taken in by sex workers on the side of a highway, after complicated family conflicts. It’s about the pressure experienced by cisgender men who may fall in love with transgender women. I co-wrote the character of Valanda. I wasn’t originally supposed to play a role in this film. I was just supposed to be there to make sure that the representation of trans people was fair. Valanda was supposed to be an older trans woman but the director wasn’t happy with the actresses that were cast so he cast me. He proposed to me to create a young Valanda. There is also Valanda’s entourage of trans women and cisgender sex workers in this shoot. I brought several of my girlfriends to be with me. This first film experience went great and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I enjoyed getting an inside look at this business. I had prepared myself for it and it’s still very intense, especially when you’re playing something close to your own experience. That’s also the beauty of cinema and the beauty of a role, it’s to add yourself to a character. The character lives thanks to us and I wanted to make Valanda live in this way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is not the only new thing on the program. We have heard about a collaboration with the singer Alice On The Roof ? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was contacted by Simon Fransquet who made an album for the soundtrack of a documentary movie by Jawad Rhalib<\/a> that follows five queer people in Brussels called \u201cThe Pink Revolution<\/a>\u201d. Alice On The Roof worked with Simon Fransquet on the album by lending her voice. Simon contacted me and offered me a carte blanche for the video clip of one of the tracks of the album which is called “Caught In A Gender Game” which was released at the end of February. Alice On The Roof’s voice illustrates the video. I’m pretty excited because it’s a clip with an aesthetic that is mine. I was able to contact a designer called Lion Ascendant Connasse<\/a> who is incredible and who lent me an outfit for the occasion. I wanted to do something innovative in this clip because we have never seen a transgender woman in Belgium in a clip of a mainstream artist. Alice On The Roof is still part of the wave of great Belgian artists like Stromae, Ang\u00e8le, Selah Sue, and Lo\u00efc Nottet. It is therefore quite rare and I wanted to show my body with this outfit as a body in transition that reflects beauty. This is what I wanted to spread as a message. The outfit is made of lots of squares and diamonds assembled by chains and we can catch a glimpse at my body and my breasts. I wanted to express that all bodies are beautiful, my body is beautiful and the body of a trans woman is beautiful and it must be represented. It contributes to improving and bringing fair trans representations. It is also in agreement with my work on the short movie where I worked on fair representation and eventually incarnated the role myself. I am quite proud of these two collaborations and the visual content that resulted from them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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