In July 2020, the poet, rapper, playwright and recording artist Kae Tempest came out as non-binary, announcing that they would publish and perform under the name Kae. In this BBC Arena documentary Being Kae Tempest, according to a Guardian review, “Tempest publicly transitions into their new non-binary identity, undergoes hormone treatment and, later, top surgery, leaving them with ‘a calm I have never known’.”

The documentary goes on add: “Being Kae Tempest’s main preoccupation is the day-to-day reality of their career: this is a portrait of the artist as a workaholic. We witness Tempest editing poems backstage at gigs, juggling play writing, novel writing, lyric writing and more … While Tempest’s work can be extremely earnest (an occupational hazard of the spoken word poet), in person they are self-effacing and funny … It’s a much-deserved happy ending for Tempest.”

You can watch the BBC Arena documentary here 

PHOTOGRAPH: BBC