Ruby Mascarenhas

Ruby Mascarenhas (she/they) is a non-binary travesti anthropologist and activist from Brazil currently based in Berlin, where they’ve been living since 2021. Fascinated by how people shape their life paths and artistic careers, she has recently been exploring and documenting the life stories of travesti, trans and drag artists across Brazil and Germany — engaging with these narratives as powerful expressions of resistance and sources for the imagination of other futures beyond racism, xenophobia and transphobia. In Brazil, Ruby was involved in intersectional LGBTQIAPN+ activist groups, collaborating with Afro-Brazilian religious communities, workers’ organisations and cultural collectives. Since 2019, she has also been part of LGBTQIAPN+ Latin American memory and archival initiatives, such as the Red Latinoamericana de Archivos, Museos, Acervos y Investigadores LGBTQIA+, and have contributed to Brazil's LGBTQIAPN+ museums like Museu da Diversidade Sexual and Museu Bajubá.