Violet:

hose poems were originally written for an anthology of sex working poetry called Hustling Verse. Of course this wasn't the first time I've written about sex work. Two poems from estrogenesis, “Ghost Girl” and “Half-Life”, were the first poetic pieces about my experiences in sex work. They're darker and more introspective; “Mr. John” and “Gone to the Dogs” are lighter saucy pieces. Daze and I found there is very little written by sex workers in Newfoundland and Labrador's literary canon, so we felt it was our duty to start creating these artistic histories and lay a foundational groundwork for that work to exist and be celebrated here. All of these poems are somewhat old in my catalogue, but they’re still extraordinarily relevant today, as the local sex trade hasn't really changed all that much, or changed for the better...

...as auesterity and economic stratification runs rampant throughout this province.  

My earliest poems about sex work were originally wrote and performed during the second leg of transversing, an all trans theatrical poetry show, directed by Bernadine Ann Teraz Stapleton and Sharon King Campbell. These two juggernaut forces in NL arts gave us, a bunch of marginalized trans youth, the rare opportunity to share our stories however we wanted with no censorship in our own words. I took it upon myself to be brave and write about sex work, because it was my lived experience at that time. This pivotal opportunity came at the beginning of my artistic career. At that time I didn't have much infrastructural support as an artist. I'd never received a grant nor had a residency up to that point. Sex work was my lifeline, so I figured I may as well be honest about it.

 

Shantha:

On that note, could you share a little bit more on how acting and spoken word fulfills your art practice?

Violet:

I got my start in performance-based poetry in my early twenties, connected to the traditional queer, spoken word, slam poetry, style of performance. The first person to give me space to speak publicly as a poet was a good friend of mine, Jude Benoit, a local legendary two-spirit land protector, queer and trans artist. A few years later, Bernadine heard Daze and I read speeches for the local 2017 Trans Day of Remembrance celebration. Impressed, she solicited us for the transversing project, which was quite a big deal for us both as neither of us had done professional theatre before. A few years later Terri Andrews, artistic director of TaDa! Events, was doing a production of The Vagina Monologues here in the city. She expressed to Bernadine her desire to have the trans monologue in the show to be performed by a trans actor, so Berni recommended me.

It’s important for trans people to be telling trans stories

To my knowledge, I am the first trans person to perform The Vagina Monologues professionally on the main stage in Newfoundland and Labrador history. The connection and understanding Terri and I had during production made our adaptation of the work special to our local artistic and cultural history. It’s important for trans people to be telling trans stories, and I grew so much as an actor through that wonderful opportunity.