Artist Spotlight- Harland Swan

At a time when the U.S.’s political landscape is becoming increasingly unstable, it’s important to have resources to turn to, especially for young people. Art and community are the most important resources we have. Art and community are the most important resources we have—and for transgender poet, activist, and leader Harland Swan, they’re the most rewarding things in the world.

Fabulous and feathered, Swan makes himself known. From dyed hair to facial piercings (his fully healed Medusa piercing is a rarity), he is unapologetically himself. We sit outside on a sunny, breezy day and talk about words. I quickly find that Harland is as flamboyant as he is covered in glitter eyeshadow– very much so.

 Swan found a home-away-from-home in Our Center, Northern Nevada’s LGBTQ+ community center. His work with Our Center has shifted over the years; Swan first joined their trans youth support group at 14. At 16, he began volunteering with them for a government class in high school, but he stuck around long after the class concluded.

Today, he runs the trans youth support group he was once a part of. After taking a break from volunteering following his high school graduation, one of Our Center’s staff members reached out to Swan and asked him to return as the group leader; he happily obliged.

“I’m so grateful for them. As professional as I can be, they’re my world. They’re what keeps me going, from talking at counseling events to going around to the high schools and maybe having someone look at me funny,” Swan said. “The reason I do that is because I know that there’s someone else watching.”

Swan first began writing as a child because of a youth writing camp, but it became more than just a fleeting hobby. One of Swan’s poems, entitled “Little Ghosts” was written after the presidential election in November. As a queer person mentoring younger queer people, it was (and still is, in a way) a scary time for Swan. “Little Ghosts” is about the future and how uncertain it is for LGBTQ+ people (especially transgender people) right now. Lines like, “Am I seeing little ghosts/ Or am I seeing everyplace that they can’t be anymore/ Where I may not find them” shows his immense concern for the trans youth he mentors. 

“We’ve been through, as a community, so much,” Swan said. “We’re still here. We’ll still be here and we’ll continue to be here.”

Another one of Swan’s poems, “Blade,” which appears in Edition 77, Volume 1 of Brushfire, is about growing up trans. The poem revolves around memories of watching his dad shave as a young child and contrasting that with feelings of rejection after coming out. It builds emotion with lines like, “Watch how he applied his shave soap, the fast but precise movements he’d make/Somehow always perfectly applying it, never making a mess with the fluffy suds.” This new world is created and promptly collapses after Swan reveals that he and his dad aren’t quite as close now as they once were. Initially, Swan was hesitant to share “Blade” but ultimately decided to publish it.

“If even one person can feel like they’re seen from it, I just need to do it. I just need to put it through,” Swan said. “That’s always been my attitude.”

The ending of “Blade,” which reflects on Swan’s relationship with his father and shaving, reveals that Swan’s partner at the time actually taught him how to shave. Swan was seeing a trans person, and while that relationship has ended, he says it taught him a lot. It allowed him to reflect and realize that sometimes you really just need your dad, and that’s not always possible.

“[Trans for trans] relationships can be so different and so devastating,” Swan said. “That’s someone who has the ability to understand exactly where you’re at.”

Beyond Our Center, Swan is training to be a peer support specialist intern through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). While he has experience in youth support through Our Center, his work with NAMI will be his next big step in contributing to mental health advocacy and support. You can find him (sometimes) at Brushfire’s Poetry Night, held from 7-9:30 p.m. at Laughing Planet (941 N Virginia Street location). One thing is certain: he will continue helping those around him find their voice.

“Trans people aren’t a monolith. There isn’t one way to be trans. But if I can help someone understand for even a minute, or help someone feel understood, it doesn’t matter how uncomfortable I am,” Swan says before we part ways. “I’m pretty comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Harland can be found on Instagram at @devilish_desmodontinae.