Jess T. Dugan, Vision 2020 — Dee Dee Ngozi

Mia’s yearlong exploration of contemporary photographic portraiture continues with a selection of eight photographs from Jess T. Dugan’s series “To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults,” a project produced in collaboration with Dugan’s partner, Vanessa Fabbre.
Recognizing the dearth of complex, human-centered storytelling about the lives of transgender and gender-expansive older adults, Dugan and Fabbre—a social worker and assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis—traveled the United States to gather stories from individuals whose activism and experiences influenced the course of LGBTQIA2S+ history.

In Dugan’s own words, “The resulting portraits and narratives provide a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.”