Saira Barbaric is a multidisciplinary creator of the erotic and the bizarre.
Saira (they/he/ze/she) started working at a Delaware dinner theater in 2007 and fell in love with the craft of creation. They studied costume design at The Theater School at DePaul University, graduating in 2013 with a BFA. Currently based in Seattle, Saira has produced over three dozen events in town with a variety of queer and erotic collectives. Their films and performance have shown nationally and internationally in theaters, nightclubs, parks and galleries.
Saira’s work builds nuanced representation and exultation of trans people, of disabled people and of Black people as these are some of the intersections that she/ze inhabits. Saira makes paintings, art objects, performance, writings and film. Across genre and medium, Saira is invested in crafting portals to an erotically fluent, bizarre and fruitful Afrofuture. His/their art spans mediums and venues considered both high and low art with the aim at weakening the barrier between the two. Saira is a student of transformative justice and disability justice who imbues their/her projects with a practice of centering accessibility.
CV
Works Shown
2021
Selected Artist - Radical Black Femme Project, digital + Seattle, WA
Presenting Artist - Yellowfish Durational Performnce Festival, digital + New York, NY
Performer - Showing Out: Black Choreographer’s Festival, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Seattle, WA
Film Selected, “Tears for Water” by Scumtrust - SECS Fest, Seattle, WA
Film Selected, “Tears for Water” by Scumtrust - San Francisco Porn Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
2020
Exhibitor - Artists of Color Expo and Symposium, The Armory at Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
Film Selected, “Uiara” by Scumtrust - Athens Porn Film Festival, Athens, Greece
Artist in Residence - Yellowfish Durational Performance Festival, digital
2019
Performer - Showing Out- Black Choreographer’s Showcase, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Seattle, WA
Performer - Randy Ford’s Queen Street, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Seattle, WA
Performer - What the Funk?! Burlesque Fest, Columbia City Theater, Seattle, WA
Film Selected, “A Sunday Hike” by Scumtrust - Hacker Porn Film Festival, Rome, Italy
Set Designer, Puppeteer - Lover of Low Creatures, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle, WA
Performer and Feature in Market - Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
2018
Film Selected, “A Sunday Hike” by Scumtrust - HUMP Film Festival, Touring North America
Costumes, Props - Bet Ya Ungodly Things, Gay City Theater, Seattle, WA
Selected Artist - Pride Portraits, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA
Performer, Vending Artist - Universe is Illuminated, multiple locations, San Francisco, CA
2017
Performer, Gogo Dancer - The Universe is Lit, multiple locations, Oakland, CA
2016
Performer - Dick at Nite, Moby Dick, San Francisco, CA
2014
Assistant Costume Designer - The Magic Flute, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2013
Assistant Costume Designer - Blood & Gifts, Timeline Theater, Chicago, IL
Film Experience
2022 Reflect. Connect. Rebuild., short film - writer, producer, performer, editor
2020 Water for Tears, short film - writer, producer, performer, editor
2019 Worship Them, short film - writer, director, producer, editor
2017 A Sunday Hike, short film - writer, performer, art director, editor
2013 Transformers: Age of Extinction, feature - Chicago location, costume assistant and shopper
2012 Chat, feature - costume designer
2012 Your Holy Eyes, feature - production designer
2011 Contest, feature - wardrobe assistant
Grants Received
2023 Mellon Foundation Grant
2022 Collective Power Grant from the Warhol Foundation
2019 Effing Foundation Grant for Sex Positivity - Scumtrust Productions
2019 Gender Reveal Grant - Scumtrust Productions
2019 Seattle Art in the Parks - Playthey Studios
Events/Exhibitions Curated
2022 Pantheon Anew, King Street Station ARTS, Seattle, WA
2018 -2021 Pr0n4Freakz, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
2017 - 2019 THiRST, multiple city parks, Seattle, WA
2018 - 2019 Genderfuckt, Queer/Bar and Vermillion Seattle, Seattle, WA
2018 Black Art Party, Hillman Collaboratory, Seattle, WA
2017 Femmes of Vulgarity, Gay City, Seattle, WA
School
2013 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Cum Laude) Costume Design, The Theatre School, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
