Star Amerasu: Creating a world she wants to live in by reaching into outer space

SAN FRANCISCO - Star Amerasu recently took time to speak with KTVU just after finishing rehearsal at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). Pride Month is a busy time of year for her. She was two days out from her performance, part of the museum's Black Life series. 

"I'm a singer. I'm a writer. I'm a content creator." She describes herself succinctly with confidence. From the rehearsal, we could see she was in charge, running the show and displaying her multidisciplinary, genre-defying work, which in this instance, heavily shows the influence of afrofuturistic elements. 

After rehearsal, she had to fly to Miami for a DJ gig. She said she simply said yes to all the Pride gigs. Then it's back to the Bay to perform at BAMPFA. 

'Reheating the nachos'

She explains how she came up with the idea for her performance at BAMPFA. This year she's been making waves with her dystopian, futuristic comedy sketches and electrifying dance floors with her house music and pop-song remix DJ sets. 

With this latest performance, the ‘TRANSmission’ comes from outer space. 

"It's called Astral Realm, which is the name of a performance fashion event that happened in L.A. and it's music that I made," she said. "I took it, as the kids say…we call it reheating the nachos."

And by reheating her nachos, she means she took music she made for a previous museum show she did during the WorldPride 2023 celebration in Sydney, Australia. She says the concept for her performance is an alien abduction happening in a museum. 

Alien Abduction

As far as the audience is concerned, Amerasu says she is trying to open minds. According to her PR team, her work as a Black transgender woman is more vital than ever. She's described as a powerhouse in the queer community. Perhaps that's what it will take to stand up to what she and others in the trans community perceive as the attacks against them by the Trump administration. Lately, these attacks have been most fierce in the realm of sports. The administration's current clash with California over Title IX comes to mind. 

Not exactly a 'Trekkie'

"Honestly, I watch a lot of Star Trek. Like, I would say that's my comfort television. I wouldn't say I'm a 'Trekkie', cuz I feel like if someone were to quiz me on things that happened, I might fail the quiz, but it is my comfort television. That's the show I put on," she says. She's currently deep into Star Trek: Voyager, a series that debuted in the mid-nineties. 

"I feel like a lot of the work I've been making is science-fiction-based." She name-drops Black creative predecessors like Octavia Butler, whose body of work was largely considered sci-fi and dystopian. Amerasu says Butler had a series about aliens, which was a favorite of hers. She often thinks about alien integration in our lives, which has also led to her pondering about how artificial intelligence (A.I.) has been integrated into our lives. 

Undeniable

So why does she dwell on this genre so much? What does it have to do with her experience? 

"I think being a part of the zeitgeist…I definitely am a part of it, and in terms of afrofuturism, I'm a Black, trans woman and my blackness is undeniable because you look at me, and you know that I am Black and I think that means that anything I make is from the African American perspective," she says. "And so it's one of these things where I'm realizing a lot of the world is not the world that I want to live in and so I'm dreaming of places that are different than this." 

That's why Amerasu is reaching out of this world for inspiration. 

"I think that's why I'm making art like this, because I want to bring those places here, right now, to the people around us where things are different," she says. 

While she does see much of the world as dystopian, she is empathetic to those in need and who have less. She calls out the unfairness of income disparity in America and homelessness. 

"There's people right now who around the corner don't have places to stay, don't have enough food to eat and that's kind of weird in a society where we have access to healthcare that's like the best that's ever been," she says. 

Star is born 

Born in Lansing, Michigan, Amerasu lived there until she was 5-years-old. After that, she says she moved a lot around the country. It wasn't until she moved to San Francisco at 19 that she accessed transgender healthcare. She was finally old enough to decide for herself where she wanted to live. Back then, she sought out a queer youth clinic in the Castro. 

"I feel like I needed to get out. I feel like a lot of queer people do the same pilgrimage when they're from like rural cities to San Francisco. I'm not the first person to do that," she says.

As much as she wanted to create a space for herself in this world, she says it's important to make space for others. 

"I think, especially in a time like now, it's more important than ever that we are realizing our similarities, especially as LGBT people. We're way more similar than we are different. I think humans in general are more similar than different," she says. 

Feeling life's lows

Amerasu knows life isn't always fair. For many within the LGBTQ+ community, she says there are moments where they realize some of the things they dream about can seem unattainable. But she also says it's actually not the community's fault. She says, "It's a world that is not ready for change."

"Why is it that in America, like a cis-normative white perspective is like what's perceived as normal and everything else is outside of that?"

It's a good question. 

She says part of what helps her get through life is a newfound clarity. She's been sober for a few years now. 

"People fall into addiction and I think trying to cope with a world that doesn't understand us can be hard for us. I'm trying my best to sort of…make my world a beautiful place regardless of what's happening," she says. 

It all goes back to Star Trek

In Star Trek, she says they talk about a future where we've moved past war on Earth. 

"I believe that our world should be a world where all people feel safe, especially people who are here and they're not causing harm to others. They are just trying to survive as everyone is. I want a world like that," she says. 

And for all the dystopia she depicts in her artwork, it's a utopia that she's looking for. As a storyteller, she's looking to continue telling stories from her perspective and is looking to open people's hearts and minds. 

"I can still hold on to hope and still make crazy art things happen in a museum where I'm an alien instead of having to deal with the onslaught of oppression in front of me," she says. 

Catch Star Amerasu at the SF Pride Transliberation Stage this weekend. She'll also be DJ'ing at the A Block Called Rhonda block party featuring Purple Disco Machine, Cece Peniston, Nicky Siano, Patrick Mason, and others. The event is Sunday, June 29, from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. outside the Great Northern in Downtown SF. You can find more information here. 

Andre Torrez is a digital content producer for KTVU. Email Andre at andre.torrez@fox.com or call him at 510-874-0579. 

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