Visible and invisible genders

This paper arises out of a three-yearpost-doctoral, photography research project that is being carried out in collaboration with transsexual people. The project explores trans self-visualisation and the relationship between the body, gender, and photography, in the broader context of the dynamic social world of visual communication in everyday life. A series of photographs from the project will be exhibited during the conference. In this paper I shall discuss the significance of these photographs and place them in the critical context from which they emerge. This work engages with Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of ‘being-in-the-world’. Following this, photographs and sound recordings are made with participants in the different social spaces that they inhabit. An important aspect of my photography is the collaborative base upon which it is built. In the work the lived experiences of the participants are prioritised and the subjects’ perspectives inform the photographs. Arising from this, I argue in the paper that the photographs present a very different version of what it means to be a transsexual person than the stereotypical model that is frequently portrayed in the mass media. I explore the significance of trans visibility/invisibility and how this surfaces in the photography. Further, I suggest that this work constitutes an intervention that initiates a questioning of pre-conceptions of gender and the body.