Black Trans Advocacy, American, founded 2012 Search this
Black Trans International Pageantry System, American, founded 2012 Search this
Medium:
digital
Dimensions:
H x W: 6720 pixels × 4480 pixels
256.76 MB
Type:
portraits
digital images
digital media - born digital
Place captured:
Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
Date:
February 18, 2017
Caption:
“The balls are a celebration of black and Latino urban gay life. They were born in Harlem out of a need for black and Latino gays to have a safe space to express themselves. Balls are constructed like beauty and talent pageants. The participants work to redefine and critique gender and sexual identity through an extravagant fashion masquerade. Women and men become fluid, interchangeable points of departure and reference, disrupting the notion of a fixed and rigid gender and sexual self. My images try to show a more personal and intimate beauty, pride, dignity, courage, and grace that have been painfully challenged by mainstream society. All of this happens at night in small halls in cities all over the country. These photographs, taken in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., show us different views of these spaces as they are reflected in the eyes of house and ball members who perform what they wish these cities could be.” – Gerard H. Gaskin
Description:
A color digital image portrait of the 2017 Winner of the BTIPS NY (Black Trans International Pageantry System of New York) Miss Black Trans New York, Brenda Milan, taken at the Ebony Ball in Manhattan in February 2017.
Milan is pictured from the hips up, standing against a dark grey background. She wears a long sleeve, black dress and is posing with her proper right hand on her hip. She is facing forward and looking to her right. Across her chest is a white sash reading [BTIPS NY MISS BLACK TRANS NEW YORK] in black text. Upon her head is a tall rhinestone tiara in an intricate design.
