Rippled Reflections

In the past few decades discourse and extensive controversy has occurred regarding the topic of gender. Issues that have become specifically pertinent include the fight for transgender rights and the inclusion of non binary gender pronouns into our language. Currently, various U.S governmental and political systems are in place that invalidate the existence and experiences of the 1.4 million Americans who recognize themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into. The Trump administration lead the Department of Health and Human Services to claim that, “The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.” The result of this motion has lead to a lack of federal recognition for non cisgender people. My series, Rippled Reflections, consists of portraits of trans young adults that are members of my personal queer community photographed in spaces that our chosen family inhabit.

Storm Bookhard, 2019.