Visibility as Resistance: Queer Pictures within the SCMA’s Assortment

Neva Smith ‘29 is a Student Assistant in the SCMA’s Cunningham Center.

I work together with the museum’s assortment each day and am privileged to get the possibility to view all kinds of artwork, however no items have struck me fairly just like the items by Jesse Freidin, Jess Dugan, and Vanessa Fabbre. These artists travelled throughout the United States to doc transgender individuals’s tales by way of pictures and interviews, producing wealthy private narratives of one of the marginalized teams of individuals as we speak. Jesse Freidin’s Are You OK? The Disappearing Faces of America’s Trans Youth, and Jess Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre’s To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults, stand out as each queer analysis and artistry.

Noa, Age 24, Florida by Jesse Freidin depicts a younger, queer, individual of colour wearing black with a member of their assist system behind them, wearing white. The interview accompanied with this portrait may be accessed on-line, the place Noa talks about what it’s prefer to be a trans individual at a time when the United States is actively passing legal guidelines that focus on transgender rights. Despite these scary developments and social divide, Noa talks in regards to the resilience of the queer neighborhood and the ability inherent in visibility. You can learn Noa’s interview and the opposite people’ testimonies here.

Jesse Freidin, Noa, Age 24, Florida, 2022, archival pigment print, SC 2024.15.3. Purchased with the fund in honor of Charles Chetham.

Dee Dee Ngozi, 55, Atlanta, GA, 2016 from To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults showcases an older Black trans girl in a purple gown, purple feather boa, and purple lipstick. In an accompanying interview, she speaks about her experiences with HIV and in establishing the primary trans ministry in her church. Dee Dee went from being a intercourse employee to being honored by President Barack Obama on the White House. Despite being over seven years outdated, this challenge feels extra related than ever contemplating the present state of transgender rights within the United States. The SCMA is fortunate to have twelve pictures from this assortment, and a variety of Dugan’s different work. 

Jess Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre, Dee Dee Ngozi, 55, Atlanta, GA, 2016 from To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults, 2018, pigment print, SC 2018.16.11. Purchased with the Josephine A. Stein, class of 1927, Fund, in honor of the category of 1927.

These two items appear to be in distinctive dialogue with one another: over 30 years older, Dee Dee supplies an instance of the resilience and the visibility Noa spoke of of their interview. Additionally, the impression of seeing older queer people not simply survive however thrive is highly effective in its personal proper.

Reading by way of the testimonials together with the images, you possibly can’t assist however really feel such as you’re having a one-on-one dialog with these individuals. Hearing about their experiences with self-discovery, popping out to their households, romantic relationships, discrimination, and resilience is sufficient to make your eyes effectively up with tears. For queer guests on the museum, these items may also present a better sense of belonging and welcoming in areas related to being inaccessible to the general public.

The undeniable fact that these items exist in a museum context, establishments usually related to disconnection from on a regular basis individuals, is extremely important. Museums and archives exist to report, acquire, and show vital items of historical past and tradition. At a time when queer and transgender rights are in danger, museums can play a significant function in preserving these tales. Having items like Freidin’s, Dugan’s, and Fabbre’s seen in esteemed establishments reveals solidarity with queer histories.