“This Is Trans” is a photography project I started in 2022 to break down the stigmas that continue to plague the transgender community, and to bring together the incredible diversity that being transgender represents.
“Transgender” is often mistakenly thought of as a binary concept in which a person must transition from one gender to the other — male to female, or female to male. In truth, “trans” simply means that an individual identifies differently than the gender/sex they were assigned at birth. Another mistaken belief is that a transgender person is only valid if they transition fully with the use of hormone replacement therapy and gender confirming surgeries. While some transgender individuals transition in this way, the goal of “This Is Trans” is to bring to light the fact that transgender covers an array of identities, each of which is unique, beautiful and fully valid. Several participants joined this project because they had been told that they are not genuinely transgender because they had not transitioned socially and medically from one binary gender to the other.
Along with their portrait, participants were asked the question, “What does being transgender mean to you?” Their answers are shown beneath each portrait, along with the person’s pronouns. The participants are unnamed to ensure their privacy and security.