ABOVE: Sunny, 8, from Texas (L) and Kristal, 10, from Missouri. Photos by Jesse Freidin.
ST. PETERSBURG | Photographer Jesse Freidin’s “Are You OK?” portrait series will include transgender youth and their families from Tampa Bay.
Freidin’s photos have been featured in The New York Times, Vogue and more. The LGBTQ photographer’s latest body of work is billed as a transgender survival project.
The nationwide series launched to counter the country’s growing number of anti-trans laws. It’s designed “as a way to pass the microphone to the kids and families who find empowerment in sharing their stories, and more importantly as a visual remedy to trans stigmatization.”
Freidin has visited 16 states by car since its pre-pandemic launch, with plans to visit the majority of those remaining by the end of summer. After months of outreach and research, his current 15-city trek includes sessions in St. Petersburg and Miami.
“Once I hit the road that’s where I’m happiest,” he explains. “That’s where I get inspired by these kids. We typically do 30-minute sittings with two kids per city, but these sessions are booked solid with about nine or 10 families.”
That includes Tampa Bay’s Carolyn Graham and her 19-year-old daughter Nova. They learned about the project through a mutual friend and were eager to “take back the narrative.”
“Society, our government, those in seats of power say this and that about us,” Carolyn explains. “That the parents are criminals for providing the care their kids need and that somehow my kid is broken. But this project is standing up to that damaging message.
“I’m a sixth generation native Floridian, which makes Nova a 7th generation native,” she continues. “We shouldn’t have to uproot our lives and move because of the belief systems of our government.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s law prohibiting transgender youth from playing sports that align with their gender identity in 2021. Since then, Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law has gone into effect and his administration has targeted trans health care.
“It’s scary right now. DeSantis has made it his goal to systematically legislate us out of existing,” Nova says. “Our health care, livelihoods and right to exist in schools are under attack – and it’s just the beginning.”
Nova wanted to participate because “being open about transness will help others see that it’s okay to be trans,” she explains. “It’s okay to be who you are and it’s not something we have to hide.”
“Are You OK?” is funded entirely by donations. Freidin says the work is important because “as a trans-identified person, I always say that we have to save ourselves and tell our stories from the inside out.”
Supporting the project will allow him “to show legislators, politicians, physicians and other bigoted people that this is life or death,” he says. “Trans and nonbinary youth and adults are humans that need to survive just like everybody else. We’re here to tell humanizing, empathetic stories that are full of joy and empowerment.”
View a selection of portraits from the project below, courtesy of Jesse Freidin.
Subjects include Aaron, 13 of Tennessee; Ash, 17, of Wyoming; Brecker, 11, of Iowa; Cam, 8, of Minnesota; Camden, 16, of Oklahoma; Kristal, 10, of Missouri; Simon, 19, of Iowa; Milo, 13, of Madison and Sunny, 8, from Texas:
After Florida, Freidin will visit Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. He plans to eventually exhibit the portraits, provide educational presentations and publish a book highlighting the work.
To learn more about Freidin’s work and to donate to the “Are You OK?” project, visit AreYouOKPortraits.com
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