Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects brings together archival materials and works by contemporary artists to narrate an expansive and critical history of transgender communities. This presentation of 99 Objects is the second iteration in a multi-exhibition, multi-venue project organized by Chris E. Vargas, Executive Director of the Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art (MOTHA), and focuses on trans lives and experiences in the Pacific Northwest. Taking an inclusive approach to transgender, gender non-binary, and gender transgressive identities and expressions, the exhibition explores histories of community making and activism, biographies of historical figures, and legacies of violence and resilience.

MOTHA is an imaginary museum that Vargas (U.S., born 1978), an interdisciplinary artist and video maker, conceived in 2013, and that takes form as temporary autonomous events, programs, and exhibitions. By design, MOTHA is forever “under construction,” a framework that openly questions how a history of transgender individuals, communities, and culture might be organized, while also exploring the relevance of constructing a history around an identity category that is evolving and often contested. The number 99 in the exhibition title riffs on The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects, which was inspired by A History of the World in 100 Objects, a joint project of the BBC and the British Museum. The number 99 acknowledges the conceptual challenges and institutional roadblocks inherent to collecting trans stories—not often valued by those writing the history of human achievement—while simultaneously creating the possibility to reimagine the dynamism of this past and to develop expansive visions for trans lives in the future.

The exhibition features work by artists Ria Brodell, micha cárdenas, Rhys Ernst, Darius X, Lorenzo Triburgo, Molly Vaughan, and Storme Webber.

Chris E. Vargas is a video maker and interdisciplinary artist based in Bellingham, Washington, who received his MFA in the Department of Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2011. In collaboration with Greg Youmans, he created the web-based trans/cisgender sitcom Falling In Love ... with Chris and Greg (2008 - 2013). With Eric Stanley, Vargas co-directed the film Homotopia (2006) and its feature-length sequel Criminal Queers (2015).