During my artist residency in Brighton, the unofficial “gay capital” of the UK, a lot of questions were on my mind – what does it mean to talk about hate crime here? How does oneself play an unfamiliar role? To explore these questions, I put up an open audition and invited the gender-queer community to play the important and traumatised character of Brandon in “Boyz Don’t Cry”.

The movie is based on the story of Brandon Teena, who adopts a masculine identity and attempts to find his true self and love in Nebraska. Unfortunately, he becomes the victim of a hate crime. This film was premiered in 1999. It is one of the classic queer movies that initiated the discussion of the trans identity.

我在布萊頓參與藝術家駐留計劃，布萊頓被外界譽為英國的同志首都。當時我有幾個問題──當地人如何探討歧視、仇恨議題？人如何扮演不熟悉的角色？我於是舉行了一場試鏡活動，邀請酷兒群體扮演電影《男孩別哭》中布蘭登一角，飾演重要且受傷的角色。

電影《男孩別哭》是按照布蘭登·蒂納的真實故事改編。蒂納稱自己為男生，尋找真我，在內布拉斯加州追求他的愛情。不幸的是，他受到嚴重的歧視及傷害。《男孩別哭》於1999年上映，成為經典的酷兒電影，電影讓大眾開始討論跨性別者身份。

Nicole Pun is a visual artist based in Hong Kong. She uses photography, video, performance to explore queer identity, desire and female representation. She received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She has a BSSc from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with a background in Journalism and Communication. Her work has been exhibited in Circus Gallery in Los Angeles; Avenue 50 Studio in Los Angeles; SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco; McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga; “In & Out” Nicole Pun Solo Exhibition at Lumenvisum in Hong Kong. Her work is in numerous private and museum collections. She is the recipient of several grants and awards, including Yale-China Arts Fellowship at Yale University, WMA Masters Special Mention Award.