Editorial Manager Bonnibel Rambatan presents a personal experimental short comic on the idea of visibility, courage, and collective care for this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility.
Artist’s Notes
This piece on Transgender Day of Visibility was inspired by two things. The first was ND Stevenson’s short comic on being braver. The second was Ley Trans, a law that commenced earlier this month (2 March 2023) that permits gender self-identification in Spain. I love how these two represent the two poles of being trans: the very personal private dimension and the very political public dimension. Of course, as a feminist, I believe the personal is always political, hence my attempt to explicitly connect the two.
The choice to utilise photos from other artists was deliberate, as a way to echo the collective dimension of the work. Editing these photos into a polaroid aesthetic with handwritten fonts was my way to frame (also literally!) this collectivity into the personal. The banner itself was a photo I dug up from my private collection, but since we are talking about visibility, I thought, why not? Finally, I’ve also selected the colour scheme of the photos to subtly recreate the colours of the trans flag.
I hope this piece resonates with you!
Photo Credits
Aside from the banner, photos have been sourced from Unsplash and retain their royalty-free Unsplash license. In order of panels, below are the credits:
- Benjamin Davies, https://unsplash.com/photos/vd8DbM-5pDg
- Chris Blonk, https://unsplash.com/photos/-snBBn-UnbA
- Oumaima Ben Chebtit, https://unsplash.com/photos/pJYYqA_4Kic
- Pedro Miguel Aires, https://unsplash.com/photos/X0zuADMnWcc
- J Lee, https://unsplash.com/photos/-IiET8hGAec
- Manu Franco, https://unsplash.com/photos/hszHumfW4wM
- Karim MANJIRA, https://unsplash.com/photos/b7cBIaCAVPs
- Alexandre Debieve, https://unsplash.com/photos/bzty-MnKGvI
- Jonatan Pie, https://unsplash.com/photos/NBvcQRdRSeQ
- Paul Hanaoka, https://unsplash.com/photos/7DMkvNblkpw
- Ryoji Iwata, https://unsplash.com/photos/n31JPLu8_Pw
- Fabian Mardi, https://unsplash.com/photos/kVKz9qnJC-k
- Dave Hoefler, https://unsplash.com/photos/_U3yqVPs634
- Eugenia Maximova, https://unsplash.com/photos/BeXMIlncuTw
- patri, https://unsplash.com/photos/fMRUfnhCQUY
- Vonecia Carswell, https://unsplash.com/photos/0aMMMUjiiEQ
- Ryan Jacobson, https://unsplash.com/photos/0R_JdRQQVqw
- Daniel Lerman, https://unsplash.com/photos/3toGVQorT_c
- Karollyne Hubert, https://unsplash.com/photos/Kp0Ub2ad2Dk
- Masaaki Komori, https://unsplash.com/photos/14cHwhRKJh8
Other Works on Trans Issues in New Naratif
- Check out artworks by other trans artists on our Artists Respond series on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2022.
- Listen to our discussion with the folks from Asia Pacific Transgender Network on Advocating for Trans Liberation in Southeast Asia.
- Read our Flash Fiction series on Queer Ecology, featuring many stories that touch upon trans lives.
- Read the struggle for legal recognition in our 10-Years Post-Haiyan feature and why it’s very important to continue the fight for trans rights.
- Join the event below, where we discuss why SOGIESC equality is crucial for better democracies in Southeast Asia.
Join the conversation on feminism as an integral part of the fight for democracy in our upcoming /ba.ca/ with New Naratif: Feminism as a Tool for Democracy in Southeast Asia. You can’t have democracy without women’s rights and SOGIESC equality.
thank you for the information