In wake of growing anti-trans sentiment across the country, a Rockville-based photographer wants to show transgender and non-binary youth that joy is possible.
Gwen Andersen’s project, Becoming Ourselves, is a photo exhibit featuring trans and non-binary people participating in their favorite hobbies, careers and spending time with friends and family. The exhibit is aimed at children and teenagers and all photos will be family-friendly.
“This is entirely positive. This is sunshine, happiness and rainbows,” Andersen said. “There has been so much hostility directed at the trans community and especially directed at trans youth. So I wanted to counter the negativity with exclusive positivity.”
While Gov. Wes Moore (D) declared Maryland a trans sanctuary state earlier this year, there has still been pushback against the LGBTQ+ community locally. Montgomery County was put under a spotlight when a group of parents filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools for not having an “opt-out” policy for LGBTQ+ books and curriculum. Hundreds of people gathered at protests, supporting the plaintiffs.
A book about a gay teenager was removed from MCPS high school libraries in October, and drag story hours at local bookstores have been met with bomb threats and violent protests. A survey conducted by the county government found that LGBTQ+ residents, especially trans residents, have faced difficulty and even discrimination in finding appropriate healthcare.
Andersen’s goal is to provide positive representation in the midst of all this news.
The photo exhibit will be on display at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville from March 2 to April 7, with two days of grand opening events on March 2 and 3 and an ally workshop on March 14. The project will culminate in a day of discussion on March 31, which is International Transgender Day of Visibility. That event will include a panel discussion about issues affecting trans and non-binary people.
Andersen is still in the stage of photographing subjects and collecting images before solidifying which photos will be in the exhibit, and she wants to highlight more trans people from Montgomery County and the surrounding area.
Andersen’s prompt for her subjects is, “what makes you happy?” That started with photographing her friend sitting in her favorite place – her garden. Other subjects are photographed blowing bubbles, teaching math, learning languages, fashion modeling and juggling fire.
“One of my subjects had a photo of himself at a botanical garden when he presented as female, so we took updated photos in the same place,” Andersen said. “So now he has pictures of himself and his husband with him presenting as they feel in the same space. It’s really cool, it’s like a beautiful update.”
Andersen said she got the idea for the project while talking to her artist mentor, Sandra Davis, who said Andersen should think about something she wanted to say with her photography. Andersen said she’s experienced firsthand how important LGBTQ+ representation in media is, which got her thinking about how she could highlight positive representation of the trans community specifically.
“When I was a young lesbian, we didn’t have a lot of positive representation. And every time there was positive representation, every single lesbian watched that show, read that book or watched that movie because there were so few instances of positive representation and each one matters tremendously,” Andersen said. “So it is my hope that some positive representation [of the trans community] will help to counter some of the negativity.”
Andersen is working with a panel of trans youth who will help select the photos that will run in the exhibit. Emery, a 16-year-old from Virginia, is Anderson’s lead youth adviser and will speak at the event in March. Emery and his mother agreed to an interview with MoCo360 on the condition that his last name and city not be published due to privacy concerns.
“Representation of trans adults is very important. Growing up trans, I didn’t see any positive reputation of trans people. All the media was about negative legislation and difficulties surrounding being trans,” Emery said. “I really want younger children to see the positive parts of being trans, the euphoria, and not just the emphasis on our othering from society.”
Andersen photographed Emery sewing, which is one of his favorite hobbies. Emery said his grandmother taught him to sew at a young age, and now he likes to make his own costumes for cosplay and is even considering a career in costume design for theater and film.
“[The photos] feel very genuine, they don’t feel staged,” Emery said. “Gwen does a very good job of making us feel very comfortable and shining a light into people’s lives.”
The exhibit also will feature trans adults performing their jobs, which was a suggestion made to Andersen by one of the youths on the panel who expressed they were scared they would struggle finding a job while being trans.
Andersen is also collecting images of trans people from across the country, some taken by trans photographers. She said she’s excited to display recent photos of Lynn Conway, a trans woman who is considered a pioneer in computer science and microchip technology, as well as historical images taken of trans people decades ago.
The exhibit will also feature a photo booth so that visitors can take photos of themselves to add to the exhibit.
Emery said he hopes the project will help people gain a greater understanding of trans people.
“Representation is incredibly important in getting people to see the humanity in different types of people. We’re humans, not monsters that have been demonized to create fear,” Emery said. “We’re human and we enjoy sewing, and reading, and being with our families like everyone else.”
More information on submitting photos or becoming a photo subject for the project is available at www.becomingourselves.org/photo-submission. Andersen requests high-resolution images. Submissions are due by Dec. 24.