#vanessa fabbre

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults by Jess T. Dugan & Vanessa Fabbre

goodreads

Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals share a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States. The resulting portraits and narratives provide a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

Mod opinion: This sounds like a really interesting photography book focussing on trans history. Unfortunately i haven't been able to read it yet.

[transbookoftheday]

To Survive on This Shore by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre

Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals share a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States. The resulting portraits and narratives provide a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

[arlens-notes]

If you haven't heard of it yet, To Survive on This Shore is a photography/biography project by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre including photographs and interviews with trans and gender nonconforming older adults:

[agardenandlibrary]

Just started:

To Survive on This Shore

Photographs and interviews with transgender and gender nonconforming older adults

By Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre

[khlara]

From the website itself:

To Survive on this Shore | Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre

Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For over five years (2013–2018), photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals have a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States.

The resulting portraits and interviews provide a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

[bossymarmalade]

- To Survive on This Shore, Jess T. Dugan & Vanessa Fabbre (2018)

For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. 

Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals share a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States.

[nothorses]

hello! i was just wondering, since you seem to be the Knowledgeable Trans Guy: do you know of any books/documentaries/etc that talk about transmasc history? because i consider myself pretty educated about a lot of queer stuff (its my special interest) but for that... i'm at a loss. it's nowhere. and it hurts, cause im transmasc and can barely find my own people in history. thanks in advance and have a good day!

There's not a whole lot out there, which is part of the problem- we're often erased as passed off as "masculine women", lesbians, "women pretending to be men for social privilege", etc. Or, even when recognized as who we are, our contributions to history tend to be downplayed, diminished, or outright ignored.

That said, there's definitely some great content out there if you know where to look!

I really recommend Leslie Feinburg's work- zie was transmasc, and tends to include transmascs in hir work because of it. Stone Butch Blues is available as a free PDF on hir website, and it's a cornerstone of queer literature. Transgender Warriors is the less narrative, more historical counterpart to SBB, and includes some specific transmasc history (the chapter on Jone of Arc is legitimately life-changing tbh).

Becoming a Visible Man is on my reading list; I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I've heard great things.

@transgentleman-luke has also keeps a Google Drive folder full of trans literature, which has a wealth of transmasc resources as well!

And a further list of miscellaneous historical transmasc content:

Second Son by Ryan Sallans, a memoir of a trans man's transition experience.

Shinjuku Boys, a documentary about trans men in Japan.

James Barry (1789-1865), surgeon Inspector General in the British Army and the first to perform a C-section where both mother and child survived.

Lou Sullivan (1951-1991), an author and activist known for his work on trans men. You can read his work here.

Lou Sullivan: Daring to be a Man Among Men, by Brice D. Smith, documents Lou's life and work.

Sir Ewan Forbes (1912-1991), a Scottish son of a baron who's gender assignment became a point of legal contention when the baronetcy was up to be inherited by him.

Bill Smith (1886-1975), an Australian jockey (cw: misgendering)

Pillar of the Community, about James Howe- an early UK trans man.

The First Female Husband, about Charles Hamilton- another early UK trans man.

Successful Trans Men (Part 2) (Part 3), a list compiled of successful trans men (mostly modern, but significant!)

Gabriel, 1839, an extended play about what would likely be described as a bigender or genderfluid AFAB person in modern terms.

Mini Beau Book, Flow, by Luke Austin, a photo series on trans men.

To Survive on This Shore, by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre, a series of photos and interviews with older trans people. Features a good deal of transmascs.

(FICTION) Confessions of the Fox by Jodie Rosenburg, a historical fiction novel about a trans man discovering lost writings about a historical transmasc.

(FICTION) Yentl, a play about a Jewish person defying gender roles. Not explicitly transmasc, but described as having "transmasc vibes".

[variousqueerthings]

Some Queer Reading Resources (non-comprehensive)

@youandthemountains and @hunkydorkling

Some Queer Reading Resources (non-comprehensive) that follow along a varied memoir, autobiographical, political fictional line – that is, all of these are stories, whether non-fictional or fictional. Most (possibly/probably all) are political in the sense that queer bodies are – as other marginalised bodies – forced to consider themselves as political, and often choose to revel in this politicalness by being deliberately openly radical in response.

There are books that are purely academic and/or political texts (such as the recent “The Transgender Issue” by Shon Faye) that I haven’t included, since I felt like “story” was the keyword here. However, if anyone wants another list that’s more objective theory, culture, politics, history, I can do an equally non-comprehensive list on that.

The other part of its premise is the messiness of queer identity – how it intersects, argues, shifts, collides, co-inhabits, and contradicts. There are a lot of heavy themes, but – I think anyway – a lot of joy in community and discovery. Do look up trigger warnings if you need them.

Last of all, that non-comprehensive part. I am but an single person, with my limitations. If you have access to libraries or book shops with LGBTQ+ sections I recommend asking there if you want something specific. My main limitations are country-specific. A lot of these are based in the US or the UK (with a couple outside and/or with mixed ethnicities and/or locations within them).

Anyone can feel free to add if there’s something they feel passionate about in terms of the power of memoir and/or stories that connect to queer community/history/politics.

Books that have made me feel things:

Now You See Me: Lesbian Life Stories edited by Jane Traies

Amateur: A True Story Of What Makes A Man by Thomas Page McBee

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, And The Rest Of Us by Kate Bornstein

There Is No Word For It edited by Libro Bridgeman (note, it may be under their former name)

The Appendix: Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture by Liam Konemann

Zami: A New Spelling Of My Name by Audre Lorde

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Dykes To Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

To Survive On These Shores edited by Jess T Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre: https://www.tosurviveonthisshore.com/interviews

***

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Confessions Of The Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

Maurice by EM Forster

The Price Of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy 

Books I have yet to read:

Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel

The Secret To Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation edited by Kate Bornstein

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib

Unicorn: The Memoir Of A Muslim Drag Queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi

Man Alive by Thomas Page McBee

Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters

Trans/Love: Radical Sex Love And Relationships Beyond The Gender Binary edited by Morty Diamond

Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica edited by Tristan Taormino

Same-Sex Love in India Readings from Literature and History by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai

Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender edited by Riki Wilchins and Julia Serano

Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme edited by Ivan E. Coyote and Zena Sharman

Nonbinary Memoirs of Gender and Identity by Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane

Let the Record Show A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman

Burn The Binary: Selected Writing On The Politics Of Being Trans, Genderqueer, And Nonbinary edited by Riki Anne Wilchins

Becoming A Visible Man by Jamison Green

Drag King Dreams by Leslie Feinberg

I’m Afraid Of Men by Vivek Shraya

Eating Fire: My Life As A Lesbian Avenger by Kelly Cogswell

Exile And Pride: Disability, Queerness, And Liberation by Eli Clare

The Butch Monologues edited by Libro Bridgeman (note, it may be under their former name)

Disavowals / Aveux Non Avenus by Claude Cahun (if anyone knows of a translation of this from French to English I would be eternally at their service)

Free To Be Me: Refugee Stories From The Lesbian Immigration Support Group edited by Jane Traies

Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono

[buzzfeedlgbt]

The national conversation about trans identity and community tends to focus on the newest crop of trans youth. But why don't we hear about older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals who manage to overcome the at times seemingly impossible odds and survive — and thrive — in America?

Photographer Jess Dugan's latest project To Survive on This Shore aims to bring attention to those voices. For over five years, Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre have traveled across the United States photographing and interviewing older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals to ensure their stories, largely untold, are finally shared.  See more here (x)

[twistedtwinsproductions]

To Survive on This Shore, Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. From Jess T Dugan & Vanessa Fabbre. On display at Duke University 💙 #GoDuke https://www.instagram.com/p/BxvDBGhFNZVY9wWrG2hLCe4hceIpl-n6hjlgK00/?igshid=1953v26ar4jk

[acup0fteapls]

UNMs Art Museum was a surprise for the eyes. I loved that I was able to visit while @jesstdugan and Vanessa Fabbre’s beautiful exhibit ‘To Survive On This Shore’ was on display. Many other pieces of art caught my eye as well and I’m happy to have been able to leave w a little piece of art. #georgiaokeeffe//Monday, 101419 (at UNM Art Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3npdU-FanM/?igshid=1dyd6sfyhwduj

[profeminist]

The national conversation about trans identity and community tends to focus on the newest crop of trans youth. But why don't we hear about older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals who manage to overcome the at times seemingly impossible odds and survive — and thrive — in America? 

Photographer Jess Dugan's latest project To Survive on This Shore aims to bring attention to those voices. For over five years, Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre have traveled across the United States photographing and interviewing older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals to ensure their stories, largely untold, are finally shared. Dugan told BuzzFeed News in an interview that she views the project (now a published book, released this week) as, first and foremost, an “educational and activist mission.”

“Prior to starting this project, I heard from several younger trans people that they had never seen images of older transgender people and that they had no roadmap for what their life might look like going forward,” she said. “I wanted to create this project for them, as well as to record and validate the experiences of older transgender people, many of whom are directly responsible for the world we live in today.”

Read the full piece and see more photos here

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

“Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. 

Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. 

The featured individuals share a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States. 

The resulting portraits and narratives offer a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.”

See the #RealLiveTransAdult photographs & interviews here!

[crossdreamers]

To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults.

Photographer Jess T. Dugan posted these and other photos from New Yorker Photo over at instagram. The project is a collaboration with Vanessa Fabbre, a social worker and Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. There will be a book launch and a solo exhibition at the  Projects+Gallery, running September 6 through October 10 2018.

[miss-rosen]

CONGRATULATIONS TO JESS T. DUGAN FOR WINNING THE 2019 INFINITY AWARD FOR EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHER THE CLASSICS | TO SURVIVE ON THIS SHORE Miss Rosen for Huck Online

From 2013 through 2018, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre travelled across the United States to meet with older trans and gender non-conforming people who live on their own terms, surviving and thriving despite all of life’s unexpected turns.

Understanding the power of representation, Dugan and Fabbre assembled an incredible collection of portraits and stories of people who live within the complex intersections of gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, geographic location, and age for the incredible new book To Survive on This Shore (Kehrer Verlag). The result is a phenomenal portrait of people from all walks of life who have lived to tell their tales – a feat unto itself given the fact that the average trans life expectancy is just 35 years old.

“From the beginning, we were mindful of trying to include as wide a range of experiences as possible,” Dugan explains. “Some people may think of LGBTQ as one community, but each person featured in the book approaches their identity in a different way.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Top: Duchess Milan, 69, Los Angeles, CA, 2017 © Jess T. Dugan

Bottom: L/Sky, 64, Palm Springs, CA, 2016 © Jess T. Dugan. R/Dee Dee Ngozi, 55, Atlanta, GA, 2016 © Jess T. Dugan

[sfplhormelcenter]

To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults (Call No. 306.768 D8781t)

As members of an LGBTQIA community fixated on youth and cisnormative beauty standards media representations of transgender elders are rare to find and when they can be located are often tragic or monolithic “born in the wrong body” tropes meant to diminish the variety of transgender and gender non-conforming experiences. However, for five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States generating "To Survive on this Shore..." their stunning hardcover book includes compelling subjects whose lived experiences straddle multifaceted intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location. From West to East, to bustling liberal cities and conservative towns, Jess and Vanessa have lovingly documented the stories of an essential but mostly underrepresented group of experienced transgender folks.

The 65 featured subjects offer a remarkable historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States and give readers a rare view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person. In times like these, their poignant but honest reflections on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds in a society that often tries to debate your existence are more indispensable than ever as a reminder that the transgender community #WontBeErased