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Posted: 21 Aug 2015 05:00 AM PDT
 Marie and Sonja by the pool, 2000  Dick and his dirty photo, 2000  Leigh, 1999 Los Angeles-based photographer Naomi Harris describes herself as an “old soul,” noting that even in her twenties, when she went to live with the senior residents of Miami’s Haddon Hall hotel, she coveted the company of those who had lived long, fruitful lives. From December 1999 until April 2002, she became, as she puts it, the “surrogate granddaughter” of the eighty and ninety-something retirees who made the hotel their home. When Harris arrived in Miami, the city was undergoing a metamorphosis; where the 1980s had brought with it a surge in crime and real estate prices plummeted, the turn of the century gave rise to new nightlife and young, hip tourists. For the elderly people who spent their winters vacationing in the once-modest hotels, rooms became unaffordable, and they were forced out of their homes to make way for the next generation. Haddon Hall, suggests the photographer, was the exception. At Haddon Hall, full-time or halftime Miami residents whose advanced age made relocation impossible found humble homes where they could sit by the pool, make their own meals, and hang out with their friends. Harris herself first discovered the hotel while driving an elderly friend home from a meal program in South Beach; while the front of the building offered views and comfort to tourists, the back held affordable apartments. Life at Hadson Hall, wasn’t perfect, admits the photographer. The residents she befriended received few visits from their children, if they had any family at all, and it wasn’t uncommon that a lonesome senior would let out “a deep wistful sigh” for the life they no longer had. But Harris, having just moved to Miami, was lonely too. Looking back, she hopes that her company, her help around the house, and her trips to the store or to the doctor’s, gave her friends the comfort they gave her. The hotel, reports Harris, was not unlike any community filled with people of any age. There were the popular cliques, and some residents were excluded, ignored, or teased. Ultimately, Hadson Hall was a human place, with everyone doing the best they could with what they had. Recently, Thompson Hotels, the company that now owns Haddon Hall, got in touch with the photographer regarding the images and the possibility of making a book, but the future of the work remains uncertain. Although she confesses that she would be “shocked” to hear that any are still living, Harris remembers her time at Haddon Hall fondly. She recalls bingo nights and dances, improvised haircuts, and even a 100th birthday party celebrated just shortly before the birthday girl passed away. She recalls people who lived, really lived, through hardships, who survived the Holocaust or the Great Depression. Most of all, she misses “the luxury of hanging out” and spending time with her friends.  Evelyn at the hairdresser’s, 2000  Gina doing her exercises by the pool, 2000  Gina drunk with Henry, 2000  Gina checking her makeup, 1999  Ida lifting weights, 1999  Lea and her Ventolin mask, 1999  Madeline by the pool, 1999  After Freida’s fall, 2000  Pearl draws her bath, 2000  Pearl taking her medicine, 2001  Pearl’s legs, 2000  Rhea changing her stockings, 1999  Sisters getting out of the ocean, 2000 All images © Naomi Harris The post While Living with an Elderly Community in Miami, a Young Photographer Becomes Their Surrogate Granddaughter appeared first on Feature Shoot.  |
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Posted: 20 Aug 2015 07:00 AM PDT
   Three years ago, Belgian photographer Farida Lemeatrag embarked on a journey that would lead her to tell the stories of twenty-five transgender adolescents and youngsters through a series of intimate and vulnerable portraits born of mutual trust and collaboration. Around the globe, transgender children and teenagers are currently facing bullying from both their peers and adults, gender-based violence, and an uncertain future. In the United States, more than half of our young transgender individuals will attempt suicide at least once before the age of twenty, reports the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. In Belgium as in much of Europe, transgender people must undergo genital surgery and sterilization in order to legally identified as their gender, and young transwomen and transmen participate in years of psychotherapy and treatment in order to determine whether they want to go through the procedure. Lemeatrag became involved with the subject after reading a story about a transman and his experience; in the two years between that article and the beginnings of Transgender Youth, the account never left her. The photographer began by contacting her subjects-to-be over a forum devoted to the transgender community in Belgium, although she has since been in regular touch with a psychologist at the world-renowned genderteam at the hospital at Ghent University, where patients have access to counseling, psychiatric support, speech therapy, and gender reassignment surgery. Consent is critical to this work, suggests Lemeatrag; before shooting, she always secures permission and keeps the conversation open for her sitters to contribute. The choice to go forward with surgery can be difficult for anyone, but for young people, who are just coming into themselves and shaping their identities, it can be even more painful. Often, they might not have the support of their families, their friends, or their romantic partners. As the photographer puts it, it’s “a period with many doubts,” but she’s hoping to change that by changing the way the global community approaches the subject; when faced with these vulnerable and courageous youngsters, she hopes that prejudice and ignorance will give way to respect and empathy.          All images © Farida Lemeatrag The post Intimate Portraits Give Voice to Transgender Youth appeared first on Feature Shoot. |
