Sweatmother
{{Short description|British Filmmaker}}
Sweatmother is a Latinx filmmaker and artist, and founder of the Otherness Archive.{{Cite book |last=Ghaziani |first=Amin |title=Long live queer nightlife: how the closing of gay bars sparked a revolution |date=2024 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-25385-5 |location=Princeton}} He is a co-organiser of London Trans+ Pride and his work focuses on queer bodies and sexuality through archival footage and experimental video techniques, including 'triple-baking' using a video synthesiser.{{Cite web |title=The Subversive Artistry of Trans Latinx Filmmaker Sweatmother |url=https://musebycl.io/long-story-short/subversive-artistry-trans-latinx-filmmaker-sweatmother |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Muse by Clio |date=27 October 2020 |language=en}}
Career
Sweatmother is an independent experimental filmmaker, artist and performer based in London. Sweatmother's work documents contemporary queer life experience and community. His documentation of trans and queer protest in London was shown as part of the 'Disobedience Archive' at the Venice Biennial Arte 2024{{Cite web |last=Article |first=Jo Lawson-Tancred ShareShare This |date=2024-01-31 |title=Marginalized Artists are Front and Center at the 2024 Venice Biennale |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/main-exhibition-artists-venice-biennale-2425963 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}
Sweatmother created visuals for Kylie Minogue's 2023 Las Vegas Residency, for the opening night of Christine and the Queens' Meltdown Festival in 2023 in London, and for experimental queer musician aya's live show.{{Cite web |title=Aya {{!}} English |url=https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/aya |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Metal Magazine |language=es}}{{Cite web |title=Kylie Minogue Vegas Residency |url=https://www.studiomoross.com/projects/kylie-minogue-vegas-residency/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Studio Moross |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2023-04-24 |title=Late night programme announced for Christine and the Queens' Meltdown |url=https://crackmagazine.net/2023/04/late-night-programme-announced-for-christine-and-the-queens-meltdown/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Crack Magazine}} Sweatmother is a long-term resident artist of queer rave INFERNO, creating films and club visuals. His expanded cinema performance solo debut Dyke, Just Do It, premiered in 2023 with two sold out performances at ICA.
Otherness Archive
Sweatmother created and maintains the Otherness Archive, launched in January 2023, an online collection of queer archival films and new works from contemporary queer filmmakers.{{Cite web |title=Otherness Archive on the Importance of Platforming Trans and Queer Filmmaking |url=https://www.polyesterzine.com/features/otherness-archive-on-the-importance-of-platforming-trans-and-queer-filmmaking |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Polyester |language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal |last=Kroese |first=Ellis Jackson |date=October 2024 |editor-last=Dimitrova |editor-first=Maria |editor2-last=Mlotek |editor2-first=Haley |title=Other Archives |journal=AFM (A Fucking Magazine) |issue=1 |pages=54-57 |issn=2998-8454}} Approximately 500 films are currently available.{{Cite web |last=Times |first=Gay |date=2024-10-16 |title=The art of archiving transmasculine identity |url=https://www.gaytimes.com/culture/transmasculine-archives-sweatmother-ellis-jackson-kroese/ |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=GAY TIMES |language=en-US}} Sweatmother has claimed that the "Otherness Archive defies the historic censorship of homosexual, trans and racial themes, and instead highlights them as representations of otherness that deserve equal, if not greater, recognition."{{Cite web |last=Barquin |first=Juan |date=2023-01-31 |title=Otherness Archive Makes the Past Present |url=https://www.intomore.com/culture/otherness-archive-makes-past-present/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=INTO |language=en-US}} It has so far focused on films related to a trans-masculine queer experience.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-16 |title=Meet the New Queer Archive Creating a Home for Trans Films |url=https://inthesetimes.com/article/a-new-queer-archive-is-preserving |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=In These Times |language=en}}