Witch of the East wants few introductions today; she’s prolific in her mission of reshaping tradition whereas too many nonetheless scrape round within the gutter, mistaking their thin-skinned bigotry for ethical concern. Each observe she creates, each put up she publishes, each poem she breathes into the world is an act of resistance, which repurposes hate, exposes it, and makes use of it to cost a counterculture motion.
As a trans TikTok trailblazer, viral visible artist, poet, and darkwave siren, all her skills alchemise to advocate for trans rights and expose essentially the most spectral sides of souls who’ve found the ache of self-awareness in a world that calls for we sleepwalk by way of hegemonic fantasy. As an alternative of flinching from the darkness, she cracks it open and lets one thing altogether extra highly effective pour out.
Each day, Witch of the East places herself within the digital firing line to deliver consciousness to the absurdity of the vilification of trans individuals. For the reason that UK Supreme Court docket’s ruling that trans girls aren’t legally recognised as girls — a ruling as vile as it’s traditionally regressive — she’s solely intensified her output. Whereas others pander, she retaliates. Whereas trolls attempt to bury her in hatred, she builds platforms from the ashes.
With the discharge of Geist Woman, she gave each prejudiced projection of hate a face by orchestrating a sonic exorcism round hypnotic oscillations, strobing synths and echoes of business machina motifs, pulling viewers right into a haunted dreamscape the place the violence of transphobia can not conceal behind language like “concern” or “opinion”. Every message that seems within the video is actual. Each stings with the ignorance of those that don’t realise — or don’t care — that their phrases can kill. Their dialect is crass, widespread, and cowardly, regurgitated and not using a second’s thought for the results.
However Witch of the East gave them a platform they by no means anticipated: one the place their bile was neutralised by artwork. One the place their phrases served solely to showcase how grotesque they’ve grow to be. Refusing to contort herself right into a distorted picture to appease the obnoxious entitlement of individuals content material to make hate an integral a part of their id, she gave us this:
“This video is a response to the wave of unfavorable messages I obtained after publicly sharing my reality as a transgender lady. Following a serious authorized ruling that questions the id of trans girls within the UK, these messages got here pouring in — every one a window right into a rising cultural shift. However this video isn’t nearly one particular person or one second. It’s about what occurs when concern turns into division — and the way that division is used. Historical past has proven us: it by no means stops with only one group. It at all times spreads. Till even these watching in silence realise: they have been by no means secure both. It is a doc. A mirrored image. A name to assume deeper, love louder, and stand collectively earlier than extra is misplaced.”
TERFs, who posture as protectors whereas doing the work of oppressors, ought to contemplate this their reckoning. They’ve turned their backs on liberation to cling to a bigotry that masquerades as precept. Their obsession with borders — between female and male, between us and them — reveals extra about their insecurities than any trans particular person ever may. They aren’t defending womanhood; they’re defiling it.
Witch of the East doesn’t owe them, or anybody else, a proof. Her humour, energy, and beauty ought to function a template to humanity, not the baying mob simping round JK Rowling like she’s the messiah of gender-critical ignorance.
And now she’s not stopping at a music video. She’s internet hosting a protest disguised as a gig. An area for fury, unity, and unapologetic resistance.
PROTECT THE DOLLS
It is a line within the sand.
The UK Supreme Court docket has dominated that trans girls aren’t girls. They’ve compelled us into males’s loos. They’ve stripped away our dignity, our security, our rights.
We is not going to take this quietly. We is not going to disappear.
PROTECT THE DOLLS is a full-throttle protest present — an evening of energy and resistance — elevating funds for trans charities, preventing for the rights of trans youth and the broader neighborhood.
Line-up:
● WITCH OF THE EAST — goth, darkwave, and digital resistance straight from the frontline.
● FLESH PLANET — ex-Allusondrugs / Allusinlove members, fusing grunge, industrial, and riot.
● A VOID — London’s chaotic grunge-punk powerhouse, armed with venom and coronary heart.
● extra to be introduced
Saturday twenty fourth Might — The Parish, Huddersfield
£8 advance / Pay What You Determine
All proceeds to trans rights initiatives.
In case you care about justice, you’ll be there. In case you’re bored with silence being mistaken for neutrality, you’ll lend your voice. And if you happen to nonetheless consider artwork can change the world, you’ll stand with Witch of the East. She’s already finished her half. Now it’s your flip.
Uncover, assist and comply with Witch of the East on all main platforms through this hyperlink.
Evaluation by Amelia Vandergast