Plot Summary

In Pollinator, Tourmaline proposes “that the truth of life is its ongoingness, its essence unchanged and unconstrained by space, time, or physical form.” In some scenes of the film, the artist walks through a garden in a floral headdress—seemingly equal parts generator and receiver of creative forces—and floats on a zero-gravity flight. Additional footage features the funeral procession and community celebration of Black trans activist and performance artist Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992). Johnson often adorned herself with flowers, acting, as Tourmaline has put it, “as a pollinator for more expansive renderings of self and beauty in the world.” Appearing throughout the film and at its close, Tourmaline’s late father, George Gossett, sings “The Cisco Kid” (1972) by War to the artist as she stands behind the camera. [Overview courtesy of The Whitney Museum]