Enby Artists Spotlight: Showcasing Talented Non-Binary Creators
In every brushstroke, lyric, performance, and poem, non-binary artists are shaping the cultural landscape. Not quietly, not politely, but powerfully. Their work doesn’t just sit on gallery walls or Spotify playlists; it radiates lived experience, with queerness, with rage, joy, contradiction, and becoming.
At Enby Meaning™, we believe that art is more than aesthetic. It’s how many of us first see ourselves reflected. It’s how we build connection when language falls short. And for non-binary and gender-expansive creators, art is a space where we don’t have to choose between truth and survival—we get to live in both.
This spotlight isn’t about tokenism. It’s not a checklist. It’s a celebration—and a signal boost—for some of the most brilliant non-binary creatives making waves today. From performance and poetry to film and music, these artists are redefining what it means to exist beyond the binary in the creative world.
Whether you're discovering them for the first time or already a devoted fan, let this be your invitation to engage, support, and be moved by their work.
Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them)
Poet. Performer. Fashion disruptor. Cultural visionary.
Alok Vaid-Menon defies categorisation—not just in gender, but in genre. Their work exists in the liminal: between spoken word and performance art, grief and joy, vulnerability and radical visibility. A globally recognised non-binary artist and activist, Alok uses their platform to dismantle binaries—gendered, racial, emotional—and invite us into a more expansive human experience.
Their performances are raw and revelatory, weaving poetry, storytelling, and costume into a queer truth-telling. Whether on stage at the Museum of Modern Art, in digital spaces, or within the pages of their books (Beyond the Gender Binary, Your Wound/My Garden), Alok speaks to the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught to hide.
But their art is never just personal: it’s political. Alok calls in systems of violence, names structures of exclusion, and insists on softness as a survival strategy. Through their unapologetic embodiment, they model what it means to be wholly human in a world that prefers us fragmented.
Why are they spotlighted in 2025?
In an era of backlash against trans and non-binary visibility, Alok’s work reminds us that gender nonconformity is not new, and neither is our resilience. Their voice cuts through noise with clarity, beauty, and unflinching honesty.
Where to begin:
📕 Beyond the Gender Binary (book)
🎭 Live performances (search YouTube or their tour listings)
📲 @alokvmenon on Instagram for ongoing essays, style, and reflection
Rae Spoon (they/them)
Musician. Writer. Genre-blender. Trailblazer.
Rae Spoon is a non-binary singer-songwriter and author whose work quietly transforms the landscape of queer music in Canada and beyond. With a discography that spans electro-pop, alt-country, and indie folk, Rae’s sound resists categorisation—just like their gender identity.
Their lyrics are tender, often autobiographical, and steeped in themes of survival, place, and transformation. Whether they’re singing about growing up queer in Alberta, mental health, or chosen family, Rae's music creates space for listeners to exhale and feel seen.
In addition to their prolific music career (over a dozen albums), Rae is also the author of First Spring Grass Fire and co-author of Gender Failure (with Ivan Coyote), a powerful hybrid of performance, memoir, and manifesto. Through both music and writing, Rae has given voice to non-binary and trans narratives long before they were part of the mainstream.
Why are they spotlighted in 2025?
Rae has consistently pushed against industry expectations, choosing truth over marketability. Their quiet persistence and artistic integrity have made them a cornerstone of queer Canadian music and literature.
Where to begin:
🎧 Albums: I Can’t Keep All of Our Secrets, Armour, My Prairie Home (also a National Film Board documentary)
📚 Book: Gender Failure (with Ivan Coyote)
🎤 Listen on Bandcamp or Spotify
Kai Cheng Thom (she/her)
Poet. Healer. Cultural critic. Trans femme icon.
Kai Cheng Thom is a non-binary trans woman whose writing crackles with vulnerability, resistance, and deep emotional intelligence. A poet, psychotherapist, and community organiser, Kai Cheng's work bridges art and healing—writing not just to be heard, but to help others survive.
Her poetry collection a place called No Homeland is a lyrical reckoning with trauma, diaspora, and trans identity, blending rage and tenderness in equal measure. Her novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir is a cult favourite—a wild, genre-defying romp through the fantastical and the all-too-real.
Beyond the page, Kai Cheng is a restorative justice practitioner and advocate for transformative healing within queer and trans communities. Her writing often speaks to those navigating the deep work of survival and self-love in a world that rarely makes space for either.
Why is she spotlighted in 2025?
Kai Cheng continues to model what it means to hold contradictions with grace: to be a trans woman of colour and a healer, to write with both myth and memoir, to advocate for justice while creating softness. She is reshaping what queer literature and leadership look like.
Where to begin:
📚 Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (novel)
📚 a place called No Homeland (poetry)
📖 I Hope We Choose Love (essays on justice and healing)
🧠 Follow her writing and talks on trauma-informed community care
Amandla Stenberg (she/they)
Actor. Musician. Advocate. Cultural disruptor.
Amandla Stenberg is a non-binary artist whose impact spans cinema, music, and activism. Rising to fame through standout roles in films like The Hunger Games and The Hate U Give, Amandla has consistently used their platform to speak out on race, gender, and identity—often challenging the very systems they're part of.
They identify as non-binary and use she/they pronouns, often discussing queerness, Blackness, and youth identity through both interviews and their creative projects. Whether through their ethereal indie music or their bold red carpet fashion, Amandla's artistry is both introspective and political.
Their creative work reflects a commitment to honest storytelling and cultural reimagination. From choosing roles that spotlight systemic injustice to curating soundtracks that blend vulnerability with strength, Amandla's artistry refuses to be boxed in.
Why is she/they spotlighted in 2025?
Amandla remains one of the most visible and thoughtful Gen-Z creatives challenging binaries—of gender, genre, and expectation. They remind us that visibility and vulnerability can coexist, and that fame doesn’t have to mean assimilation.
Where to begin:
🎥 The Hate U Give (film)
🎶 Listen to their indie music project under the name Honeywater
🎤 Watch their interviews on identity, representation, and self-expression
🧵 Follow their fashion statements—each one says something beyond aesthetics
Travis Alabanza (They/Them)
Poet, Playwright, Performer, and Cultural Critic
Travis Alabanza is one of the most compelling non-binary voices in contemporary performance and literature. Based in London, their work explores the intersections of gender, race, surveillance, and public space with cutting precision and lyricism. Their breakout solo show Burgerz was an urgent and visceral exploration of transphobia, vulnerability, and visibility, earning critical acclaim across the UK and internationally.
In 2022, Travis published None of the Above, a genre-defying blend of memoir and cultural critique that unpacks what it means to exist outside of societal binaries. Through intimate reflection and sharp commentary, the book challenges the reader to question the systems that shape our understanding of gender, race, and identity.
Whether on stage or on the page, Travis brings a poetic fire to everything they touch, opening space for non-binary and Black British experiences to be heard, honoured, and centred. Their influence reaches far beyond the arts, sparking important conversations about belonging, resistance, and power.
Shamir (They/Them)
Genre-Bending Musician, Writer, and Visual Artist
Shamir is an independent artist whose sound and style refuse to be boxed in. With a voice that’s ethereal and unmistakable, they exploded onto the music scene with their 2015 debut Ratchet—a dance-pop triumph that quickly became a queer anthem. Since then, Shamir has pivoted into lo-fi rock, alt-country, and experimental pop, always following their own creative intuition.
As a non-binary artist, Shamir uses music to reflect on mental health, identity, fame, and the experience of being perceived. Their lyrics blend vulnerability and edge, often accompanied by self-directed music videos and bold visual aesthetics that challenge conventional gendered expression.
Albums like Hope, Revelations, and Heterosexuality dive deep into themes of self-reclamation, existential fatigue, and queer joy. They are also a writer and visual artist, constantly expanding their creative expression across mediums.
Shamir’s commitment to independence, raw authenticity, and queer representation makes them one of the most innovative non-binary voices in music today.
Celebrating Non-Binary Creativity: Looking Ahead
Non-binary artists continue to expand the possibilities of art through what they create and through how they exist: unapologetically, expansively, and on their own terms.
From the poetic rage of Alok Vaid-Menon, the introspective sonic landscapes of Rae Spoon, to the revolutionary storytelling of Kai Cheng Thom, Amandla Stenberg, Travis Alabanza, and Shamir—each of these creators offers us more than just work to admire. They offer us new language, new futures, and a mirror for our own complexity.
And they are far from alone.
Names like Kae Tempest, Mykki Blanco, Ana Roxanne, Liv Hewson, Angelica Ross, Fox Fisher, and Yancyy (among many others) are shifting paradigms across music, film, literature, performance, and visual art. Their work invites us to engage with identity not as a fixed point but as a living, evolving story.
As we continue to spotlight and support non-binary voices, we also commit to transforming the spaces they occupy—making art institutions, stages, publishing, and platforms more just, accessible, and representative.
So don’t stop here.
→ Buy their books.
→ Stream their music.
→ Share their films.
→ Fund their projects.
→ Celebrate their brilliance.
Non-binary artists are not a trend—they are a legacy in motion. Let’s keep listening, watching, and building a future that honours the full spectrum of who we are.
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Art is a conversation. Let’s keep it going, together.
