Robinson Williams Photography

TransFolk Photo Project Information (January-May 2008)

Project Description:

Following ENDA's ordeal, heading into a new administration (city and national), issues around the LGBTQ+ community will continue to need resources to fight off hate mongering and misrepresentations in the media. This work also aims to serve as a helpful platform for getting out information on the nuances between gender/sexuality differences.

A particular emphasis of the work will be to explore how different identities which individuals both embrace and have forced upon them affect the way their bodies are able to function and/or are constrained in the world. As with my former work, the idea is to collaborate with stereotypically portrayed communities and individuals and to try to re-present images which can confront the more typically grotesque and exotic. Beautiful photographs with beautiful people...

Project Logistics:

I am currently looking for transgender and transsexual individuals (broadly defined, ie genderqueer, intersex, third-sex, etc). These terms are not meant to be inclusive or exclusive but to help give a general idea of what the project is about. Without using explicit labels/terms, I am hoping to work with individuals who do not live within a neatly defined heteronormative dichotomous sex/gender/sexuality world.

Participants will need to be comfortable being photographed in their home and community environment. Participants will be encouraged to do photo sessions with other people who are important in their lives- family, friends, co-workers, etc. Additionally, I am looking for participants who are also interested in writing a testimonial/creative writing piece about how their identities have been defined resulting in the liberation and/or constraint of their bodies. Former writing experience or training is absolutely not necessary.

Participants will need to donate time and interest, but there are no associated charges/fees. Additionally, remuneration for involvement is not available. This is not a research project, although it should be educational for audiences.

If you are interested, or would like more information, please email me at ARWilliams@gmail.com. If I do not immediately respond, I may not reply until mid-January due to holiday-related disruptions and planning purposes. If possible, please email with "Photo project" in the subject line.

Publication:

Work from this project- hopefully representing everyone who participates for both photographs and writing pieces- is expected to be published in educational, newsmedia, and artistic venues. The work will be hosted on a website (yet to be named) and shown as an exhibit at the Seventh Annual Mazzoni Trans-Health Conference in Philadelphia, May 29-31, 2008. Additionally, work may be published in local and national magazines, newspapers, and shown in exhibition spaces such as university art galleries and museums. Participants will be asked to sign a release/form confirming that they are familiar with the project details and that their information and image can be published.

My Previous Work:

Most of my work is documentary photography in the format of color portraiture, often with various marginalized/disenfranchised communities. I like the work to be participatory and mostly natural/unmanipulated. I still print medium and large format work in a wet lab, not digitally. For reference, previous projects can be found at the following websites: