Climate change has a disproportionately negative impact on transgender people, and the trans community in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is taking things into its own hands.
An arts organization made up primarily of trans women is called Sanggar Teater Seroja (Serojan Theater Studio). They were established in 2016 in Tambora in West Jakarta and frequently host cultural performances like speeches, traditional and modern dance, and observations of plays and writing. They educate locals on issues like sex and weather through innovative, effective engagement with local communities.
Since 2022, the group has hosted the Trans Superhero Climate Change Carnival at the University of Leeds in association with the Generate Project.
A part of the theater group Victoria Sintara informs FairPlanet that four transgender weather superhero characters were created for the 2022 festival. Each character wore a mask made of used cheap silverware, leftover bubble wrap, recycled materials, and other materials. They visited some neighborhood businesses and held a festival in Kampung Duri, West Jakarta.
Indonesia is well known for having the highest concentration of climate deniers in the world, and the festival is a major initiative to gently bring up the environmental issue. Another Trans Superhero Carnival will be held this year by the expanding theater company, and it will feature 15 transgender climate superheroes dressed in recovered costumes. The festival will take place on December 17 in the crowded sector of the area.
These transgender children’s capacity for action may instill in the populace a sense of urgency to combat climate change or, at the very least, to take some action by gathering and reusing plastic waste. Additionally, by holding a gathering, the group normalizes trans participation in the neighborhood, which boosts acceptance and lessens the stigma associated with transgender people.
According to Sintara, the majority of trans people in the theater group busk or engage in sex work. They put their lives in danger when the weather is bad, and some of them recently experienced heat injury in Jakarta as a result of climate change.
Sanggar Teater Seroja’s initiative may present fresh viewpoints on how to spread awareness of sensitive issues without being critical of the economic and educational standing of Indonesians. A lighthearted and interesting way to tackle the two subjects, which are still difficult for some Indonesians to accept, had particularly helped address issues related to climate change denial and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
Next month, Sanggar Teater Seroja unveiled four Trans Superheroes, including the Advocacy, Cleaning, Restorer, and Fundraising Heroes. With the addition of 15 more Trans Superheroes this year, we may anticipate that more of them will help combat the negative effects of the climate crisis, giving Indonesia hope that their work will motivate it to take action to save the world.
