Group: The Tranny Diaries
Team Member: Christy, Juliana, Raiza
The Tranny Diaries wants our topic to be ~*unique*~ as compared to other groups, hence the reason why decided to do on transgender issues to parallel Guanyin’s own transformation. Also, because issues pertaining to LGBT has been gaining ground recently (though with much more emphasis on homosexuality, such as the gay marriage act being legal in USA and the annual local event Pink Dot). The fury and vitriol from the general public garnered when Bruce Jenner undergoes sex-reassignment surgery shows our skewed mindset towards gender identity. If people are able to accept a bodhisattva’s form from male to female, why not a normal human being?
Initially we were unsure of how to approach it as we were too fickle in deciding on an angle. So what we did is to come with a concept for our installation then work on an angle. I was lucky to be able to get a transgender to interview in such a short period of time. Even though she is not exactly a “reputable” source (she is just a normal transgender, not an expert in transgender issues and she only represent the male-to-female transgender and not female-to-male transgender). However, I feel that this makes her experience value-adds more to our work as she is a primary source with very real experiences and struggles. It was an amazing experience working with her (even correcting some of our faux pas, such as asking what pronouns she is comfortable in before assuming (we called her ‘he’).
The photoshoot went pretty smoothly and it was quite a new experience for all of us; the girls find it unnatural to put the makeup on for someone else and I was fumbling trying to put on the makeup myself (I have done productions but its usually just foundation and blusher, done by makeup artists). It made us reflect how hard it must be for people who are transitioning (male to female, in this case) and the hardships they go through, both intimate relationships with closed ones and their relationship with the general public.
It was pretty cathartic during the presentation of Freedom To Be, knowing that we tackled a controversial issue and present it in an informative manner to the class.