I’ve been working on this project for over 3 years now, it began with conversations in 2017 with a friend who was trialling a new name and then talking to other friends throughout 2018, who had trans, butch or non-binary identities and were assigned female at birth (AFAB), taking a few pictures along the way.
In January 2019 I started making studio portraits with these friends, I was unsure of what we were going to do to be honest but very sure of what I didn’t want to do, I didn’t want to add to the dominant representation of trans people by making sombre portraits with a low mood. What I did know was that I wanted the participants to be themselves and to own their images, be in charge of the gaze, feel powerful and enjoy the process.
At some point during this initial phase of exploration and play we decided on a name for the project which Jen Smethurst came up with, as this was how they were explaining the project; ‘People Like Us’!
The project has been completely collaborative from the start with ideas coming from the conversations we’ve had and what the participants have wanted to share, they have continued to surprise me. There is a lot of trust and respect between us, which has enabled the level of intimacy and vulnerability you see in some of the photographs along with the strength and joy the participants behold.
2020 saw a pause to shooting for the project - ce la vie! However I spent much of those sunny locked down days sitting outside writing about the project and reflecting on the work so far. With no freelance or gigs I was able to give the project my full attention and eventually applied for funding, which consumed the winter from December 2020 – March 2021. I was successful and have received an Arts Council Project Grant which means I can be more ambitious with it and we have a number of activities planned, happening over the next year or so collaborating with partners such as Duckie and The Glory. After this development period, the project will become a photo-book, an exhibition and an archive in 2023.
During those moments when we slipped out of complete lockdown in 2020 I moved from working in the studio to doing more location shoots, revisiting original participants to explore new ideas and have some fun.
We also did a Virtual Exhibition in place of the Barbican Masculinities event we were booked to do before Covid in April 2020 and made a zine for Shout Festival in November 2020 which was a lovely way for us to collate and share some of our work so far and bring new people to it.
This year I’ve started to talk to new participants and it’s been such a privilege to listen to their stories - on zoom (where-else) and be creative together. We’ve recently started shooting which is really exciting and I’ll be introducing more participants as the project develops and I invite more people.
Here are some photos I made in the studio a few months ago with Ymir who approached me because they felt their body and identity was underrepresented which I totally hear and aim to counteract as best I can with People Like Us. More on Ymir soon!
Doing a project like this, and having more time than usual on my hands perhaps, it’s inevitable that I look inwards and question my own gender identity which I’ve come to the conclusion must be Agender. I don’t feel any masculine attributes at all but when I think about it, I don’t really feel any female attributes either and being called a woman or lady makes me wince! If I were younger I’m pretty sure I would use gender-neutral pronouns (they/them), but as a 48 year old who hasn’t had any issues with her gender identity and whose gender expression matches her biological sex, I don’t feel comfortable taking those pronouns much as I love and covet them. I have however taken ‘queer’ for myself which completely fits my identity regardless of my gender or sexual orientation, for me queer is an ideology and a community to which I very much belong.