Justin Vivian Bond

About the Artist

Justin Vivian Bond has appeared on stage (Broadway and Off-Broadway, London's West End), screen (Shortbus, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Sunset Stories), television (High Maintenance, Difficult People, The Get Down), nightclub stages (most notably a decades-long residency at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater), and in concert halls worldwide (Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House). Their visual art and installations have been seen in museums and galleries in the US (Participant, Inc, The New Museum) and abroad (Vitrine, London). Their memoir Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels (Feminist Press) won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. They are the recipient of an Obie, a Bessie, a Tony nomination, an Ethyl Eichelberger Award, the Peter Reed Foundation Grant, the Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant for Artists, and the Art Matters Grant. They have self-released several full-length recordings: most notably Dendrophile and Silver Wells. As one half of the legendary punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb they toured the world and released two albums: Do You Hear What We Hear? and Kiki and Herb Will Die For You at Carnegie Hall. Bond has been at the forefront of Trans visibility and activism since the early 1990s. They have a master's degree in live art from Central Saint Martins College in London and have taught performance composition and live art installation at NYU and Bard College. Currently, Bond divides their time between residences in New York City's East Village and the Hudson Valley. In December of 2019, they made their debut at the Vienna Staatsoper in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Orlando as Orlando's child.