1. Tell me a little about yourself, your major, where you are from?
Well, I'm a 1st year graduate Studio Art major (MFA), and I'm originally from the SF Bay Area where I obtained my BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.
2. Tell me about your issue that you've chosen for the class and why?
I'm currently in the research phase of looking into how the transgender and transsexual populations are treated and dealt with within the justice system. The reason I chose this topic is because I feel like this is a group of people where it can become hard to find a clear line on what the methods and practices can be beneficial and humane. When Richard Ross offered this graduate level course on justice, I hopped on the chance to participate.
I'm currently in the research phase of looking into how the transgender and transsexual populations are treated and dealt with within the justice system. The reason I chose this topic is because I feel like this is a group of people where it can become hard to find a clear line on what the methods and practices can be beneficial and humane. When Richard Ross offered this graduate level course on justice, I hopped on the chance to participate.
3. Would you say your background has shaped your project? If so how?
While I was in undergrad I was pursuing an associate's degree is administration of justice and eventually switched to art. My passion for researching justice hasn't stopped since then, I've just chosen a different path to find truths and meaning within everyday encounters. Also, while attending school at the San Francisco Art Institute I was introduced/exposed to many different concepts of gender, lifestyle, and identity politics. I have many friends who participate in gender bending and it is something that recurs within my own work. I think that it is a subject that is becoming more and more relevant over the years.
3. Can you elaborate more on your experiences with friends that have changed your focus and concept of gender? Is there a particular memory that you can recall?
I wouldn't say any specific memory beyond just growing with other artists and watching them change and realize their own identities in the world. Most of my own work (I've been told) is dealing with male identity in one way or another. I plan on tackling this topic by first making some calls and locating the population, and then trying to get in there to interview and/or photograph them.
5. What do you think that it would take to get justice and understanding from our society for trans gendered/ trans sexual individuals?
I think that society as a whole and the justice system deal with this subject in very different ways. I think society at large deals with things very simply, if they don't know about something, they deal with it in the way it is delivered to them. So say if you couldn't tell someone was a "tranny" (M/F, F/M doesn't matter), then there is no problem. I think what it comes down to is honesty. I don't think most people are freaked out by the idea of what is happening, as long as that person is doing what makes them happy as long as they are not hurting anyone in the process. The understanding will come with time, just like with the gay population, it takes a plethora of different experiences and tactics for it to be "accepted". There is also still much research to be done on what happens within the psyche of a person that would cause them to reject their own identity and what kinds of therapy can be applied to make them more ok with who they are whether or not they actually go through with the transition. That is where I think (I hope) the justice system will implement these treatments, cause I do think that it isn't something that should just be black and white, being either male or female, most of these people pre/mid/post transition still need attention.
I think that society as a whole and the justice system deal with this subject in very different ways. I think society at large deals with things very simply, if they don't know about something, they deal with it in the way it is delivered to them. So say if you couldn't tell someone was a "tranny" (M/F, F/M doesn't matter), then there is no problem. I think what it comes down to is honesty. I don't think most people are freaked out by the idea of what is happening, as long as that person is doing what makes them happy as long as they are not hurting anyone in the process. The understanding will come with time, just like with the gay population, it takes a plethora of different experiences and tactics for it to be "accepted". There is also still much research to be done on what happens within the psyche of a person that would cause them to reject their own identity and what kinds of therapy can be applied to make them more ok with who they are whether or not they actually go through with the transition. That is where I think (I hope) the justice system will implement these treatments, cause I do think that it isn't something that should just be black and white, being either male or female, most of these people pre/mid/post transition still need attention.
6. And do you see this possibly happening in our lifetime?
Possibly...the difference between how these populations were treated 20 years ago and today is vastly different, and I think the difference in 20 years will be vast as well.
