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Portrait of Humanity: Celebrating São Paulo’s transgender community

Camila Falcão’s intimate portraits of São Paulo’s transgender community tell stories of strength and resilience

The life expectancy of transgender women in Brazil is just 35 years old. They are subject to extensive daily abuse, and around 90% of them work as prostitutes, having been ostracised by family and friends. The country also has the world’s highest murder rates of transgender women; there have been 113 this year alone. With no social visibility, there is very little being done to counteract the epidemic of abuse. Times are changing, thanks to the women leading the fight for their rights, but there is a long way to go. To understand this fractured, but resilient, community, Camila Falcão spent the last eighteen months photographing them in São Paulo.

Falcão’s work seeks to elevate and celebrate her subjects, by presenting them as individuals, and not statistics. Through two projects, Abaixa Que É Tiro and Onika, she has constructed an intimate and timely portrait of the community. Given the environment in which these women exist, the response to the work has defied expectation; Falcão has been invited to give interviews for publications such as Brazilian Marie Claire, Vice and UOL, as well as ZUM, Brazil’s most influential photography magazine. The work has also been selected for several photofestivals, and she has been asked to become a member of Women Photograph, Native Agency and Girlgaze, raising the awareness of São Paulo’s vibrant and defiant transgender community across the globe. This response also speaks volumes as to how photography can cause a lasting, positive effect on people’s consciousness.

With New Horizon just Day’s away!! Im posting my Anna Dress for people to use!

Fountains Cottage, North Yorkshire, England