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A Series of Questions

A Series of Questions

A Series of Questions

Text JF. Pierets    Photos L. Weingarten

 

A Series of Questions is an ongoing project by photographer L. Weingarten about the questions asked to transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people throughout the world. The subjects hold wooden signs depicting a question that each has had posed to them personally. Some by strangers, others by loved ones, friends or colleagues. Presented on these wood boards, the questions are then turned on the viewers. The idea is that the images prompt viewers to cast a reflective eye upon themselves, revealing how invasive this questioning can be.

 

Why did you choose to work on such a subject?
A Series of Questions grew out of my interest in storytelling and narrative, which is my overall focus in photography. I wanted to focus on the narrative itself in this project— the questions people were posed—and make that visible in photographs. I didn’t want to center attention on the identity, gender, or trans status of the people pictured. The project deals with the questions of transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people as opposed to simply trans people or gender diverse people. I’ve learned that while there can be overlap, there is also a lot of distinction between each of these terms. And these distinctions vary geographically and culturally, even within the same country. Were I to say that all the people in the A Series of Questions photographs were transgender or all were gender non-conforming, I wouldn’t be being accurate or honest to their lives. While it may not be fashionable to have a laundry list of terms so to speak, I strive to ensure I’m being inclusive rather than simplifying or glossing over the incredibly wide diversity of experiences.

You’re obviously not a labels person.
I’m not interested in placing labels on the people I’ve photographed – a lot of people may do so when they see the images, and I can’t control that. But that is also what’s very interesting about this work; seeing what assumptions viewers make when presented with these images and these questions and what they believe or assume about the people in these photographs. Because the images aren’t about the gender or trans status of the people I’ve photographed. This project is about the questions they are asked and the viewers’ relationship to that sort of narrative or interrogation. I say interrogation since these questions can feel kind of aggressive when read one after the other.

Where does your interest come from? 
The project is a natural outgrowth from my interest in narratives and storytelling. I had been researching the history of Native American portrayals in American photography and how the historical images made at the turn of the century continued to shape the imagery created today. Which is kind of amazing, that images created over a hundred years ago continue to do that today. Around that time I happened to attend talks by two photographers, Zig Jackson, whose work focuses on American Indian experiences, and Loren Cameron, who documents transsexual people. Zig Jackson’s work was very influential and helpful in how I ended up developing and conceptualizing A Series of Questions— particularly his pieces about photographic tourism of Indians and stoic Indian stereotypes. Zig Jackson’s work, combined with a series of portraits I’d seen by Loren Cameron—which included text of all sorts of statements and questions people had asked—percolated for a while in my mind. Some time after these talks I began shooting experimentally for the project. I wanted to create images that functioned on their own, that had an immediate interaction with the viewer and played directly with the whole experience of questions and narrative.

Is it autobiographical?
A Series of Questions is not autobiographical, but the work is a biography of sorts of the people pictured. Each question has been personally asked of the person holding that wood sign. I don’t create the questions. Each person shares with me what question they want to use in their image; often they have a particular question in mind. I believe the questions act as windows into their lives. The viewers get glimpses of all these different conversations that have occurred. In that way in can be biographical.

 

 

‘My primary interest is in storytelling. I’m interested in exploring the nature of storytelling and narrative.’

How is your relationship with the models and how do you find them?
I often spend a few hours with each subject, talking and getting to know one another before setting out to take pictures, as well as spending time together after we’ve finished shooting. Typically I’ve already emailed with them a few times or spoken on the phone. One of my favorite experiences was going to dinner with a model after we finished shooting. We ended up staying long after closing, chatting late into the evening with the restaurant owners and their family about the politics of the day. We were all from different countries, and it was refreshing to exchange different points of view and just generally have a good time. I ended up taking a family portrait for them in the kitchen of their restaurant. Another memorable experience was photographing at a subject’s home near Christmas time. The subject’s young daughter was very excited and energetic and a friend assisting me that day, entertained her while I completed the shoot. She very much wanted to get in front of the camera, too. It was a nice atmosphere with all the joyful Christmas decorations and this bubbly little kid running around. The people in my images are found in a variety of ways, but for the most part people have contacted me through my call for participants. I have correspondences saved and organized by location for places throughout the world. When I’m traveling, I will often photograph someone who knows others in the area that are interested; a lot of connections are made through word of mouth. I’m very grateful for the amount of time my subjects spend with me, and for trusting me when they share these questions. It takes a lot to be willing to share these questions and experiences with me, let alone to be photographed, and I’m honored that they trust me with their experiences. It’s often a risk for them to share these questions with me, a stranger, and to allow themselves to be photographed. They need to feel that I will represent them honestly, without ulterior motives, and will produce their image with dignity. I strive my best to do so.

What about your other work?
My primary interest is in storytelling. I’m interested in exploring the nature of storytelling and narrative. A lot of my other work does this by drawing upon traditional tales, folklore, and mythology. Lately I’ve been very interested in exploring mythology regarding horses, and have plans to photograph horses on a local farm. The farmer has given me permission to use body-safe paint on the horses as well as altered fly masks, which are traditionally used to protect the horses from fly bites, to create costumes for the photoshoots. On and off the past few years I’ve also been working on a photographic study into the lore regarding spirits and the afterlife. Twilight is a time of evening when spirits supposedly appear, a time between day (the living) and night (the dead). It’s also called ‘the blue hour’. There’s really beautiful light at that time, if you can catch it.

A Series of Questions is an ongoing series, what would you like to achieve?
I would like to see A Series of Questions encompass a wide berth of experiences, which is why the project has been ongoing. I have only recently been able to photograph people whose questions were asked in a language other than English, and would like to continue doing so, as I travel to more countries. Funds have been the main limiting factor in expanding this project, but I am patient and in time I’ll be able to travel more extensively. I plan on continuing this body of work for several years and at this time I don’t have a final end date. I am curious to see how, or even if, the questions people are asked differ from country to country, from culture to culture, across generations, and religious and ethnic backgrounds. I’m conscious of the fact that a lot of my images thus far feature people who are white or primarily of European descent and are not as representative of people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds; I want to make sure that the A Series of Questions images are as inclusive as possible in that regard as well. It’s my goal to eventually photograph all the people who’ve contacted me with interest in participating. It will take some time, but slowly and steadily I will be able to travel more extensively. I’m currently planning a trip to Europe in 2014, hoping to revisit the Netherlands as well as travel to Belgium and France to continue photographing. I have also been reaching out to different organizations to connect with different populations, such as immigrants from Arab countries. The next exhibitions with A Series of Questions images will be in the Netherlands in October. My long-term goal is to publish a book of the images upon completion; I would love to amass several hundred images to really reflect the wide scope of experiences.

 

www.lweingarten.com

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Et Alors? magazine. A global celebration of diversity.

Roze in Blauw

Roze in Blauw

Roze in Blauw

Text JF. Pierets    Photos Myriam Missana

 

There are several networks that focus on specific groups within the Amsterdam police force. One of these networks is ‘Roze in Blauw’ (freely translated as ‘Pink in Blue’). It promotes the interests of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans genders in- and outside of the police force. The members of Roze in Blauw are there for people who need to report discrimination, insult, abuse or theft because of their sexual orientation. They offer a listening ear and can refer or mediate when necessary. Et Alors? Magazine talks to Ellie Lust, spokeswoman of the Amsterdam police and president of Roze in Blauw. 

 

In the beginning
Roze in Blauw started in 1998, the year the gay games came to Amsterdam. The numerous participants arrived from different parts of the world. Parts where homosexuality was a criminal offence, or where the death penalty was still sentenced. We thought about how we, as a police force, could let those people know that they were safe with us. We are talking about people who were locked up in psychiatry for 5 years, just because they were kissing someone of the same sex. One of the stories we were told was that twenty people would be trapped in one room and food was shoved under the door, until one day the door would open and they’d be thrown out without a single word of apology, or an explanation for that matter. Because the police would not usually be on their side, we found it quite important to create a safe haven for them to turn to, as you can imagine. The theme of those years Gay Games bethought Friendship, so we invented a slogan that said ‘Proud To Be Your Friend’. We felt we had to let all the guests know that they were welcome here and that they were safe with us. After the festivities ended, we realized there was a great need for a reporting point where people could tell their stories. We tried a lot of things: from consultation times at the COC to pre-announced hours by phone. It was only when we created a separate Roze in Blauw number that it finally started to work,  because when people want to report an insult they don’t want to have to wait until office hours to do so. Yet it took until the Chris Crane incident for them to find their way towards us. The American journalist was molested in 2005, when he and his boyfriend  walked on the streets of Amsterdam holding hands. Crane wrote about the assault in The Washington Blade, the gay magazine of which he was the editor in chief. “I hope our gay friends in Holland realize that it’s a bit too soon to declare victory and go home, now that they’ve won their legal battles”, he wrote, referring to same sex marriage being legal in the Netherlands. This incident put everything on a roller coaster and soon we had to submit a press release in which we stated that people, faced with violence or behaviour focused against their sexuality, could contact us via that special phone number. Although we were already there for about 8 years, the media picked it up as ‘Amsterdam Police Founded A Special Team’. Suddenly there was a Roze in Blauw team and they started asking us for advice. East European countries and the police top all over the world invite us to inform them on how we make contact with the community. I sometimes proudly call us ‘world champion’.

Facts and numbers
As from 1997 we effectively started to submit the indictments. What we see is that from ‘97 until now there’s an ascending line in violent incidents and other issues that people encounter; threats, discrimination and so on. In 2007, for example, we counted 234 incidents. Those are incidents in the broadest sense of the word; people who were threatened, both physically and psychologically. People who got eggs thrown against their windows or who got beaten up, all kinds of harassments. In 2008 we counted 300 incidents, 371 in 2009 and 487 in 2010. So we register 1 or 2 incidents per day in Amsterdam. Nevertheless, those numbers remain difficult because we never know if those increasing numbers are a sign of the times or because we’re profiling ourselves at almost each event in order to lower that threshold. Two years ago, Dutch newspaper Het Parool and the local news channel AT5 had a research program and one of the questions was, “Do you call the police when something happens to you?” It turned out that only 9% did. But does that mean that the violence is 11 times as high? As you can see, those numbers stay very objective.

The victims 
There are various reasons why people don’t report sexually oriented discrimination. For instance, quite some men meet at gay spots but live a heterosexual life in their everyday reality. They don’t go to the police when they are violated. The shame factor is not to be underestimated, either. When you take a man home from a club and you get beaten up, it’s quite likely that it will flash your mind that people will think it’s your own fault. Women experience a different kind of violence. More often they will encounter sexist comments, such as “surely you never met a real man before” or “can I join?”. There are a lot of cases where women get seriously beaten up but the assault remains mostly verbal. We also experience that women don’t think it’s a big enough deal to go to the police and that’s bad because if they don’t report it, it didn’t happen. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t make a fuss about violence when they are gay or trans and that really ought to change.

 

 

‘I dream about ending the Roze in Blauw team, because that would mean that we no longer experience violence against homosexuality.’

The perpetrators 
Research to perpetrators of gay violence shows that religion has less of an influence than everybody thinks. Macho behaviour, on the other hand, is a very big problem. Young men of between 15 and 25 years old often can’t stand seeing other men behave in a more female way so they want to teach them a lesson in how to be a real man. Not only coloured people are guilty of such behaviour, the Dutch men are also represented.

The roze in blauw team 
When people call our team they talk to someone with the same sexual orientation. That helps a lot when it comes to overcoming shame. In order to make the entire force aware of the problem, we now organize – together with COC Amsterdam –   sensitivity training days. Until now it’s been very useful and beautiful. And of course there are moments when things go wrong but it’s quite clear how all policemen and -women think about inequality. Police work in general is about 80% behind closed doors. Most people have no idea because the only thing that’s out in the open is when we write a parking violation ticket. We do a lot of social work and next to our Roze in Blauw team we also have – amongst others – a Turkish, Antillean, Jewish and even a Christian network. You name it, we have it. Every specific force can be deployed in a particular problem. In the end, it’s all about connection. People from the outside can only connect with the police when there is certain recognition. In my opinion every police force in the world should be a reflection of the people in the street. That’s the only way to find each other and that’s the only way we can do our jobs properly.

Here and after
The Roze in Blauw team gives lectures all over the world. It’s a process where we take steps forward and the occasional step back. It’s not always easy and it’s a lot of work because next to being part of Roze in Blauw we are also just normal cops. I’m the spokeswoman of the Amsterdam police and the president of this special network. That makes for pretty long days but I cannot tell you how proud I am. I’ve been part of the police for almost 25 years now and I witness progress every day. Nevertheless, I dream about ending the Roze in Blauw team, because that would mean that we no longer experience violence against homosexuality.

www.politie-amsterdam.nl

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Et Alors? magazine. A global celebration of diversity.