Artist Rhys Harper challenges us to see who people are, rather than what we think they are.
Recently, I was reading through my Facebook feed when I saw an intriguing meme that said, essentially, if you’re in public and can’t figure out a stranger’s gender, don’t worry about it. A link on that took me to The Transcending Gender Project.
When you first arrive at the site, you see pictures – stunning black and whites – of people. The title of the page gives you only the barest hint of who these people might be.
Kai (photo by rhys harper)
David (photo by rhys harper)
You click on the image and find out that Kai “is an awesome person living in the Bay Area in California.” And David “is a trader, cat dad, and philanthropist residing in Queens, NY.”
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Artist Rhys Harper describes the project in this way:
It is a series of black and white environmental portraits  trans-identified and gender nonconforming humans that celebrate who they are as people. The media and society in general is starting to discuss trans issues more, and there is more awareness, but so often, the focus of discussion is about bodies and what is underneath our clothes, instead of who we are and what we have to offer the world.
The descriptions of the people are what make this project so striking. They are a comedian, a musician, and a former soldier.
Julia (photo by rhys harper)
Jesse (photo by rhys harper)
Landon (photo by rhys harper)
Harper also says that:
This project is to give visibility to trans individuals, and gender non-conforming individuals, and to show that world that we, too, exist, and what we have to offer the world transcends the boundaries of gender.
This is the kind of visibility that is missing, the kind that replaces labels with humanity and headlines with reality. When Harper says that, “so often, the focus of discussion is about bodies and what is underneath our clothes, instead of who we are and what we have to offer the world,” that statement is absolutely correct. We see it in the media and pop-culture all the time.
But people are more than what we see, or assume we see, or think we see. The Transcending Gender Project, which is ongoing and hoping to grow their archive on individuals and images, wants to celebrate these lives.
JJ Vincent is a 40-something guy who lives in north Alabama with his two partners and their three dogs, five cats, and a hamster. He's a graphic designer, copyeditor, and polycrafter who is equally fond of knitting and NASCAR and gleefully surrounds himself with pink sparkly things.
