The Colossus I
Through my self-portraiture, I am learning to carve a space for myself within a hostile social landscape that actively rejects and denies my existence as a transgender individual.
Africa Barrero-Alexander
Photography 2024
I'm a photographer from Madrid, currently based in Bristol. My personal work is centred around the relationship between humanity and the land, the nature of the human condition, and the beauty of the mundane. My latest project 'This Body Was Carved From Stone' was shortlisted for the Hahnemühle Student Award, and exhibited at Photo London 2024. I'm interested in using photography as a therapeutic tool, and exploring its ability to reshape narratives and recontextualise past events and traumas. My outputs are predominantly in photobook form, as I'm heavily invested in creating art that is tactile and immersive, drawing viewers into the artwork by placing it in the palm of their hand.
africabarrero.alexander@gmail.com https://africabarrero-alexander.uk/ →
One Week After
By photographically documenting my medical transition, I am creating a visual record of my strenuous experience navigating this country's broken healthcare system, whilst also externalising an internal and deeply intimate journey of self-liberation.
Flightless
Origami birds made out of letters from an NHS gender clinic - painful reminders of a flawed healthcare system, transformed into symbols of hope.
Denial I
My trans identity was a secret I held close for many years – presenting as female felt like a mimicry, yet I did not have the courage to perform as anything else.
Alistair
An important aspect of my gender transition has been the process of exploring my own masculinity through my male family members and friends, and vicariously re-imagining the boyhood I never got to experience.
The Colossus II
Turning the camera on myself allows me to depict and claim authorship of deeply personal yet inherently political subjects, such as the internal conflict of a non-static identity that is part of my transgender experience.