What Makes This Image Trans? will be shown at the Martin Hall Exhibition Space from 24 May-4 June from 12pm-2pm each weekday*.
This collectively curated exhibition features work by trans photographers from across the East Midlands, who took part in a series of workshops in late 2019 and spring 2021. The exhibition responds to the issue of trans representation in social and mainstream media. Sometimes, these spaces can be a place of positive reflection and construction of trans experiences, whilst at other times it can produce oppressive thoughts and norms as to how trans people should look, act and feel.
The workshops were run by the artist Raju Rage in collaboration with Notts Trans Hub’s Isaac Scott Briggs and Nat Thorne; trans photographer Oskar Marchock; and developer Lou Hazlewood. They were centred around the experiences of trans people, and how they choose to construct their own narratives and relationships through photography.
The participant photographers responded to their online discussions covering embodiment, empowerment and the personal politics of both. The work produced showcases the everyday glory of trans experiences.
Image Credit: Isaac Scott Briggs
To complement the exhibition, there will be an additional online event titled ‘Transistence: The Politics of Trans Representation’.
It will explore the practices and methods trans people use to selectively share their lived experiences, and the agencies involved in doing so, with a particular focus on photography and personal narrative.
Isaac Scott Briggs and Oskar Marchock who contributed to What Makes This Image Trans? will talk about the shaping of the exhibition and the issues the workshops explored.
The event will also feature L. Zachary DuBois and Alpesh Patel, who will be Visiting Fellows of the University’s Institute of Advanced Studies in 2021/22 contributing to Transitions: a festival exploring transition across political, societal, personal and ecological realms.
DuBois will reflect on the exhibition’s themes through his own experience as a transgender man, and his research focusing on inequality, stress, and trans resilience. Patel will discuss his research into how artwork exploring the relationship between the body, abstraction, and image-making can create vibrant spaces for transgender visibility.
This event hopes to be a safe space for discussing the strategies, possibilities and power relations of the narratives by and about trans people, with a view to individual and collective liberation.
Speaking about the project, Raju Rage commented: “It's been generative to be part of a trans led project where, as diverse trans people who often get lumped under one umbrella, we get to discuss and embody the politics of photography and reflect on image-making in relation to trans representation from a trans perspective of lived experience in complex ways.”
Transistence will take place online via Zoom on 25 May from 6pm-8pm and all are welcome to attend. To register your place, click here.
More information about Radar and its other projects and events can be found on the dedicated website.
*Closed on Monday 31 May