English hip-hop poet and playwright Kae Tempest is in a much better place since coming out as non-binary two years ago but says talking about it can feel unsafe.
"It's quite a hot topic, a thorny topic, it's also just my life … It's no big deal but it's also everything so you have to be slightly careful," they tell Kim Hill.
Photo: supplied
Last year, Tempest (who was formerly known as Kate) released The Line Is a Curve – an album about "perseverance and resilience" and On Connection – an essay on creativity.
Since they were young, creativity has provided salvation in many forms.
''[Via creativity] I was given guidance, pleasure and community … I was given a purpose. The beauty of life was shown to me… I was given an escape from the body, which was something that I needed at that time. And these days I'm still saved by it."
In On Connection, Tempest writes that while struggling as a younger person, it seemed their own future self was guiding and encouraging the creative process.
"This voice would come into my head and I would write. They would tell me what to write and it would be soothing for me in times when I was in lots of pain."
Tempest is puzzled that there appears to be no such mental communication with a younger self now they're older.
"How was it me that went [back in time] when I'm not knowingly doing that? I don't know to reach back into time and find that kid and guide them. But when I do sit down with a pen I am going back, I am offering guidance and solace to the kid that I was, especially now that I start to embrace fully the person that I am."
In On Connection, Tempest writes about the valuable lessons learnt from a temporary loss of their voice after throat surgery.
For three weeks, they had to be totally silent – not even whispering, coughing or sneezing – with a "terrible fear" of how the surgery would affect their voice.
Thankfully, Tempest's fears of suddenly sounding like Bart Simpson or Mickey Mouse weren't realised and the period of enforced silence offered a lesson in how to be quiet.
"To be silent with people, it meant friends and family were able to open up to me in ways they never had because I would sit and listen beyond the point at which you would normally… listen. It was a really illuminating experience, especially for a vocalist. It really showed me a lot."
Tempest encourages other people who've experienced pain over gender identity to seek out a supportive community, as they have.
"[Find people who say] I love you and I want you to stay alive and you are beautiful and natural."
This month, Kae Tempest will visit New Zealand to perform three shows.
Photo: Supplied
