"Melandrium": Two Transgender Personalities

EVERY DAY PHOTOGRAPHERS AROUND THE WORLD looking for new ways to tell stories or to capture what we previously did not notice. We choose interesting photo projects and ask their authors what they wanted to say. This week is the "Melandrium" series by Danish photographer Johann Peter Jonsson, in which he studies the external and psychological transformations that transgender people go through, and also gives the viewer to determine for himself which of the images is comfortable for a person and which is not .

I am interested in an obsessive Western obsession with beauty and fitness from the end of the 20th century to the present day. My deep interest in photography has always gone hand in hand with an interest in art history, and even at the stage of preparing the project, I decided that within its framework it is important to start from historical ideas about body and gender coming from the Italian Renaissance. My attention was attracted by the Sleeping Venus by Giorgione: she made me think - how would I remove my own Venus? I began to look for heroes, whose body can simultaneously cling visually and at the same time convey an idea in an unexpected way. I thought that this project could tell the story of transgender people in all its complexity and ambiguity. According to Greek mythology, Venus could impregnate itself and embodied the idea of both sexes united in one body - according to my feelings, this can be compared with the process of rebirth through which transgender people pass.

I decided to title the project "Melandrium" in honor of the flower of the same name (in Russian - Smolevka. - Approx. Ed.) - this is a plant that changes its appearance throughout life. Its leaves, initially pointed, eventually become wide, and the white flower turns into red. For me, this is a perfect example of the fact that there are also organisms in nature that do not consider it necessary to be something alone during its existence, but instead are experiencing a significant change.

I decided to study the body of transgender people, because at the time of the start of the project there were many publications in the press about what bureaucracy was in the way of people who decided to change gender. I come from Denmark, but for the last three years I have been living in the UK and have acutely felt the difference in the approach to this issue. In my native country, the issue of transgender people is practically not raised - as if it does not exist. This is very strange, because in terms of heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, we are one of the most progressive countries in Europe. Meanwhile, in Britain, people are much more open about their gender reassignment experience and are proud to have the right to physically become the person they feel.

Proceeding from the main idea, I thought - why not ask the heroes to demonstrate two periods of their life: a person who is comfortable with him and who was uncomfortable. This can show society that the decision to become a transgender is not rational, but organic is the only way for a person to achieve harmony with his body. To me personally, the issue of gender tenacity seems particularly interesting, because Western society still adheres to the social and moral principles of Christianity. These principles determine the roles that men and women should adhere to, and changing these roles is still taboo. In countries where Hinduism or Buddhism plays an important role, people are much more comfortable with the blurring of gender boundaries.

I found all the heroes of the project through Facebook - I just wrote the status in groups for transgender people and invited everyone who would find this interesting to take part. Many people responded, and often those whom I took off, recommended their acquaintances to me and so on. Some of the project participants deliberately chose an androgynous appearance to cause confusion and thus make the viewer think about the nature of the issue. For example, Alex is a transgender woman, but with a beard. She does not want to drive herself into a rigid framework, and the beard obviously carries her ideology. She likes her appearance to make people think that not being 100% male or 100% female is normal.

For me and my project it is very important that the audience decide for themselves which of the two incarnations of my characters is current and comfortable, and which is uncomfortable and left behind by them, though not forgotten.