“I think it has always been a radical act to identify as Queer and/or Trans,” says New York artist Lindsay Perryman, whose practice is made with and for the African American LGBTQIA+ community. “I often think I’m making this work for my younger self and how transformative it would have been for me to see these images and feel like I belong.”

Set against a new wave of precarity facing the Trans community in the West, impacting everything from access to medical care to arts funding, Perryman is invested in the DIY work of radical practice, making work that is a gesture of love and care for their community.

In their debut short film, Tops, Perryman explores the intimate experience of undergoing top surgery and the role of aftercare as a communal gesture. Like much of their work, the film, which is shot entirely on Super 8, draws from the deepest depths of their own life and lineage to tell stories which centre the emotional reality of an experience.