Kai-Isaiah Jamal is a spoken word poet, performer, model and trans visibility activist using Instagram as a tool for good. Kai draws on their own personal experiences as a trans person of colour dealing with dysphoria, displacement and uncertainty– unraveling huge, universal themes through the lens of poetics online and bringing us their audience in, concluding simply that to be human is to feel all of these things.

Their work both as a performer and writer is simultaneously disruptive and casual. Often performing from their bed their poetry pulls from classical literature, lyrics, pop-culture, neologisms, slang and internet-speak, seamlessly blending both high and low vernacular. Their main focus is shining a light on marginalised voices and perspectives which they do both as a writer and activist, with a specific focus on the narratives of trans/queer, black and working class folk. Kai has become for many a new kind of online hero, uplifting, and championing their community and beyond through meme-culture, performance art and grass-roots activism making their audience feel both seen and heard.

Kai debuted their poem-come-script 'Snap My Legs and Ask Me to Crip Walk. All the Ways I'm Dancing/Dying For You' as part of London DRAF'S take over at Ministry of Sound for London's 2019 Frieze Week curated by Louise O'Kelly. Named ICA’s first ever Poet in Residence Kai has been recognised by some of the UK’s largest artistic institutions. They work closely with The Tate, The Freeword Centre, The Barbican and The National Gallery, democratising the artform of poetry and ushering in a new more diverse and intersectional audience who might previously have not felt welcome in those spaces. Using their artform as a means of breaking down barriers and infiltrating previously closed-off spaces is at the core of their activism.

Bringing their people along with them is something that skewers all of their work. As a model, working alongside brands such as Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, FENTY and Burberry, Kai hopes to be more than just a ‘face’. The aim for Kai is that young people might better see themselves reflected back in the advertising and marketing they digest. Recognising the power of brands today, Kai understands the urgency of having faces, bodies and genders like theirs in global fashion imagery. Kai also contributes written work to online platforms such as Vogue (where they’re an Editor at Large) i-D, Vice and Broadly and was named as one of the Dazed 100 list in 2019. Kai’s hopes to also bring a visibility to non-binary, trans and queer communities, people and identities who have often been erased from mainstream culture. Their voice, while heavy with the weight of being a marginalised body in today’s society, is also irreverent, joyful, hopeful, inspiring and evidently, infectious.

Podcast Instagram: @360_yourself

Music from Electric Fruit

Produced by Tom Dalby

Composed by Toby Wright