hair cut

My relationship to femininity as a trans person is complicated to describe, but these images attempt to translate that feeling.

Growing up as a girl who loved being a girl was one of my life’s greatest gifts. I always felt and still feel deeply connected to the idea of femininity, girlhood, and sisterhood.
When I used to look back on old photographs of myself, it brought strange feelings I didn’t quite know how to process. However, if I blocked my long hair out with my fingers it was as if I saw my current self come forward. I realized my femininity was never the issue —
my dysphoria was almost purely related to my hair.

This series attempts to reshape my feelings toward past memories by giving my younger self a “haircut” I felt affirmed by — a buzz cut. 
Photographs were printed onto heat-transfer paper and ironed onto needlework fabric. I then cut out my hair, reshaped the pieces into a buzz cut, and sewed them back into the original image. Through the process of making these images gender-affirming for my current self,
I performed traditionally feminine tasks — ironing and needlework — and ensured the preservation of my younger self’s
blatant and flamboyant femininity.

This is a love letter to my girlhood, and the girl who still lives within and alongside me every day. I love you.