To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults by photographer Jess T Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre comprises 65 tender portraits and accompanying interviews conducted over five years. A roving exhibition (Vision 2020: Jess T Dugan is currently showing at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the artist’s first solo exhibition in a major museum) in addition to the book, the duo’s collaborative project was born from a quest to tell these very personal stories with accuracy, depth and honor. “Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional,” reads the book’s summary. The individuals represented within the pages span generations, race, ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences, but are united. Insightful and inspiring, these stories speak to the importance of identity. As Duchess Milan says in her interview, “I just know I’m me… I know who I am, and what other people think about me is none of my business. So that’s who I am. I identify as the Duchess.”
To Survive on This Shore (Signed Copy)
