Meet Xelestiál Moreno-Luz | Artist, Culture & Media Strategist, & Non-Profit Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Xelestiál Moreno-Luz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Xelestiál, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It is painfully apparent that transgender women of color are forced to work in underground economies and under the thumb of LGBTQ+ capitalism. Starting my consultant work as Non-Binary Mami LLC, working as an interdisciplinary artist, and developing a nonprofit initiative called Saturn’s Wish was a no-brainer because I wanted to be in control of my own narrative.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an interdisciplinary lens-based artist born from displaced genders and fugitive sexualities. I approach my art through praxis, drawing from transgender and gender non-conforming discursive spaces and identity, transgressive pedagogy, and the politics of memory. I find that my body, and the bodies of my policed peers, are excluded from discourse in visual culture, art education, and Latiné studies. In my visual and education work, I prioritize these bodies and utilize solidarity strategies from accomplices in more significant trans-aiding movements. The current evolving approaches in my practice use archival print media, performance, recycled textiles, design, fashion, and experiential image-making processes. My work acts as a site of transgender possibility, allowing my communities to dream of trans futurity. My practice is primarily lens-based, as I have training in technical film and digital photography. The concepts of documenting, destroying, and rebirthing meaning in images are how I interject futurity in the work I collaboratively produce.

This Fall of 2024, I am making my way to pursue my Master in Fine Arts at the University of California, San Diego. Getting here was not easy. During my high school and community college years, I was battling a deep depression and was heavily using drugs and alcohol to cope. In 2022, I was diagnosed with a heart condition called pericarditis, where the lining around my heart was inflamed because of all the drugs I was consuming. I am currently in recovery, and I continue to advocate and be an example of living with adversities and moving beyond addiction. Throughout all this, I learned that putting you and your health first will make the difference between surviving and thriving.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Some of my favorite spots to grab food in Los Angeles are Thai Angel, Detroit Depot Pizza, Silverlake Ramen, Pupusa Urban Eatery, Somos Oaxaca, and basically any late-night taco stand. Los Angeles is known as the indigenous territories of the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash nations. Hence, its topography is beautiful, and you can not go wrong exploring any part of the region. I do not go out as much as I used to, but if I did, I would be hanging out a lot more at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Long Beach, Little Tokyo, SoHo House, and Boyle Heights.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to give a shout-out to a few transgender icons who are present with us today and those who are at rest. After reading Surpassing Certainty, a memoir by Black transgender author and journalist Janet Mock, I felt like I was in the right for daring to chase after my dreams no matter what the world around me is saying about transgender women. I am in awe of the memoir by Raquel Willis, The Risk It Takes to Bloom. I picked up this book shortly after leaving my full-time non-profit job, and despite going behind a steady salary, health benefits, and a small team of my queer and trans children/siblings, I knew that I had no other choice but to bloom. Lastly, I want to give space to Sylvia Rivera, a Puerto Rican transgender woman who, despite fighting for gay liberation, the gay movement did not move a finger for her and ultimately was left houseless and alone. It was not until other transgender and non-binary people nursed her back into health.

Website: https://nonbinarymami.com

Instagram: nonbinarymami

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xelestialmorenoluz/

Twitter: n/a

Facebook: https://facebook.com/xelestial.morenoluz/

Yelp: n/a

Youtube: n/a

Other: n/a

Image Credits
All images are mine except image of me on the panel, which is by Craig.