IDENTITX
“What gender are you?”
“I am not a boy, I am not a girl, I am a gender fluid”.
“I am A-Gender”.
“I’m a woman”.
“I am non-binary”.
From the day you were born people have told you are male, female, man, woman, gay, straight. Through this series of interviews this project challenges our pre-conceived concept that has been given to us. I have a vagina, but that does not depict my gender.
The research investigates our concept of self-identity through the deconstruction of gender perspectives. Shot during one month of interviews in Buenos Aires (2018), the exposition includes photographs and audio-clips that challenge our pre-defined idea of what it means to be him, her, or other: IDENTITX. Through these voices of Argentinian youth, I explore and forward the concept of gender fluidity.
In Buenos Aires there is a strong opinion on gender identity. Public debates often start by addressing to the public as: Chicos, Chicas and Chices. This the last address, Chices, gives shape and space for a third gender.
Each interview and image asks us to question how we think about our own identity. How has it been shaped through social and cultural constructions? Are we in control? And how can we shape, reject, and recreate it. To what extent do we need to accept the established system of societal values and norms?
In Argentina, I choose my gender.
The Argentinian Gender Identity Law N° 26.743[1]promotes human rights and equality between transgender individuals and the rest of the Argentinian population by recognizing the right to a self-defined gender identity. Gender under this law become open to personal definition. It does not require surgery, proof, or any other evidence.
Diana Sacayán[2]was the first Argentine citizen to receive a new national identity card (DNI) with her modified gender identity, but tragically she was later killed for her role in this movement. When the murderer was charged with homicide, it was labelled as gender-homicide.
The individuals I interviewed in Buenos Aires assumed that this law must already be a standard in other countries – certainly in Europe, if not also further worldwide. Shockingly, this is still far from the case.
[1]Boletın Oficial de la Republica Argentina. (2012). Ley de Identidad de Genero. Año CXX, Nro 32.404. Retrieved from: http://www1.hcdn.gov.ar/BO/boletin12/2012-05/BO24-05- 2012leg.pdf
[2]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44528454
The Ladies of Myanmar
This project was realized as part of a photo journalism project in Myanmar, 2016.
The project celebrates the role of women in Myanmar and their contribution to change in their country. The focus on women is used as a lens to explore participation, and to illustrate humanity’s persevering confidence in the face the unknown. The concept was inspired by the recent history of Aung San Suu Kyi, known as The Lady. Whilst celebrated as the symbol of democracy, the ongoing conflict and humans rights violations continue to raise a question around participation in Myanmar and the struggles that have not yet been overcome.
Myanmar is perhaps the country with the youngest media landscape in the world today and marked by a harsh experience of conflict and unrest in the past decades. Yet the experience there is overwhelmed by the hope and expectations of the women I met and photographed as they look towards the future and a different life for their children and grandchildren for the generations to come.
Claudia Miccichè 