Parting Frames of Empowerment

The tone of issue 23.17’s cover story, “We Are All Mercedes Successful,” is obviously pretty heavy. We’re discussing the murders of 19 members of the trans community. How can it not be?

Death is no easy topic to talk about, especially when it involves the murder of your peers. We asked a lot of our trans brothers and sisters who gave us themselves for the story. We asked them to go to that mental place and tell us about the times that they didn’t feel safe. We asked them to stand in front of a camera and present an image of a person who’s fate they could easily share. We asked them to unapologetically present their authentic selves to the world through our readership and demand to be noticed. We asked for a lot. For some, it was understandably just too much, and I am especially grateful for all the people that made the decision to be a part of this story.

I was keenly aware of the emotional weight this project carried for our participants. It was important to me to make sure that the photo shoots were conducted in a way that fostered empowerment. I wanted our participants to walk away from the experience feeling like they were celebrating their authentic selves and had made an important contribution to the trans rights struggle.

I ended each session with a couple frames of our participants without the picture frame, giving us their natural selves. It was my favorite portion of the sessions because that’s when I really got to experience all of the different vibrant personalities in the room. I feel very honored to have met all of these wonderful people and am exceptionally grateful they stood in front of my camera.

And so, I present to you final shots of each session at the Watermark Publishing Group headquarters in Orlando and the Metro Wellness Center in St. Petersburg:

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