Hi, my name is Nat Marcus, and I’m an artist, writer and publisher living in Berlin. I’m also a trans woman, beginning to medically transition with hormone replacement therapy in 2019. I feel blessed to have had access to this treatment – frankly, that pivot saved my life. It allowed me to learn to sit in my skin, and after some time, my bones. At the moment I’m reaching out to my community to begin to raise an unfathomable amount of money for facial feminisation surgery (FFS). It’s a set of surgical procedures that make alterations to typically male features of the face, reshaping them to more closely align with the size and shape of typically female facial structure. To be real: I seek out these surgeries and your support not because “a typical female” is my goal or prototype in transitioning. Nor the empty esteem of passing (although the safety this can afford in various publics is very real, and should not be overlooked). Rather, with a deepening sense of self-love comes clarity, and the ways in which I know I need to continue this transition become more refined. Simply put, the (small!) edits I’d like to do on my face will bring me into closer alignment with the woman I’m becoming. In early August, I have a consultation with the very expensive but highly competent surgeons at Facialteam , in Marbella, Spain. The money I’m raising now will help cover travel costs, hospital fees, and give me a buffer to rest on in recovering from the procedures for a few weeks. My life and work in Berlin for the last 7+ years has been defined by community and collaboration. From the social poetics of TABLOID Press , to the organisation of varied bills for readings and music events across the city , to designing graphics for the many sonic projects of my chosen family and wider circles – my activities are turned towards and for the community. There is also an attention, an urgency directed to communities beyond the immediate crew. For some years, I’ve redistributed a portion of the earnings from my silkscreened collections of artworks and clothing to places that could make direct use of that money: to Hydra e.V., the sexworkers’ rights organisation in Berlin; to Women in Exile e.V., an advocacy group for women refugees in Brandenburg; to the Herbal Mutual Aid Network and the activist work of my sister Yves B. Golden; and so on. Next will be one of the Europe-wide networks of trans women synthesising and distributing injectable estrogen, an infrastructure many of us depend on but one which, at the moment, is also very much community-led. So often, we come to form each other’s infrastructure – socially, spiritually and in terms of the resources we are able to share. To express my gratitude for your support in this process, and make it more of an exchange, I will be making a limited series of silkscreen prints of the caduceus motif you see throughout this text. The staff of the Greek god Hermes stands for his purview of roads, transit and commerce; it’s been extended over the centuries to symbolise the endless motion of mercury, alchemy and medicine. Additionally, his day is Wednesday, the day I take estrogen shots each week (make a note of that maybe). It’s a fitting emblem for this moment – even more fitting to make these pieces with silkscreen, a technique I’ve always loved for engaging the whole body in the printing process. You can find more details about the prints below. But most importantly, know that any support is deeply appreciated, to the moon and back. All my love, NM Donors contributing €50,00 or more will receive a 2-color silkscreen print on 30 x 40 cm Büttenpapier (thick, traditionally crafted paper). Donors contributing €100,00 or more will receive a watercolor + 1-color silkscreen mixed print on 42 x 56 cm Büttenpapier. Donors contributing €200,00 or more will receive a hand-dyed, 1-color silkscreen print on organic cotton textile, medium format (~70 x 100 cm). [The photos above are not illustrative of the prints you'll be receiving, just a range of past silkscreen work] Cover photo: Jennifer Juba
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