Head On at 541: Trans*
Noura Gauper
This event has concluded
Dates:
Entry Fee:
Free
Exhibition Event:
Official Opening
05/05/2020 6:00 pm
Noura Gauper. Portray individuals with gender dysphoria in the stage they are in, closer to their gender identities, without cultivating ambiguity or voyeurism.
Although gender dysphoria is better understood today, it remains a victim of misunderstanding and stigmatisation in a large part of society. Photography has contributed to a stereotypical image of transgender people by associating them with unhealthy, seedy, negative environments, when it has not fostered confusion with transvestites, androgynes, and even prostitutes and homosexuals. It is estimated that there are between 20,000 and 40,000 men and women in Switzerland who question their gender identity.
Far from fetishisation, the Swiss-Trans Project aims to show, through fifty portraits, transgender men and women in the process of developing their true gender identity, in order to promote their cause and bring them the recognition they seek in society. I came to be involved in the Swiss Trans* project in December 2018, when I had the opportunity to work with a journalist who wrote an article about a transgender person in Geneva. I came face to face with their experiences wanted to photograph them. Often, these are people who have not been photographed during or after their transition, and the act of being photographed can be a difficult one. Helping these people to go beyond their fears in the process can lead to the discovery of their re-appropriated bodies, in a context where the images may convey conventional or idealised norms.
I seek here to portray the individuals in the stage they are in, closer to their gender identities, without cultivating ambiguity or voyeurism. I try to meet the individuals in their world and allow them to choose a space in which they feel comfortable and safe. The statements that accompany their portraits serve to showcase their spontaneous personalities, beyond the question of gender, to which each and every person can identify.
Head On at 541 draws together 9 photographic artists.
Artists: Alberto Gandolfo, Bojana Jokanovic, Christoph Franke, Dave Tacon, Gabrielle Menezes, Kasper Forest, Katri Lassila, Noura Gauper, Victor Ramos
Curator: Eleanor Megna
Noura Gauper is a Swiss photographer of Iranian and Austrian descent. Born in Lausanne in 1981, Noura graduated from the Vevey School of Photography. She lived in Sydney, Australia for 10 years, where she worked as a photographer for several modelling agencies and as a photo stylist for several labels in the advertising industry. Noura collaborated with the artistic management of several clothing labels, and worked on her own independent creative projects. Noura recently moved back to Switzerland where she regularly travels to major capitals around the world for shoots. She photographs for the Swiss French press (L’illustré, Bilan, Femina, Le Matin Dimanche, Le Temps, Elle), and her photographs have been reprinted in other publications.
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