This series of photographs is part of the ongoing project Queers of the Beautiful Horizon, which portrays non-binary, crossdresser and trans people in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The photos below portray Ed Marte, a non-binary artist and a queer activist. He lives and works in Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais. Five photos of this series were exhibited at the Brazilian Embassy in London, amongst the work of 30 artists shortlisted for the VIA Arts Prize between 14th December and 31st January.
Ed's defiant yet gentle personality plays a huge part in the community centre he has opened at the favela near his home, which features the work of local trans artists and welcomes people from the favela to hang out and share experiences with trans people in a effort to raise awareness about gender diversity.
Creating safe spaces for trans people to be who they are, without needing to hide an important part of their lives, is especially important in a country like Brazil, where the violence agains LGBT people has historically been a chronic problem. In 2017, there was one LGBTs victim killed every 19 hours for homophobic reasons in Brazil.
The community space Ed has created is called Rosa de Marte and is located at the community Vila Nossa Senhora Aparecida ( São Lucas, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais in Brazil.)
All the photos above were taken at the community centre Rosa de Marte.
I also photographed Ed in his home in Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon), one of the biggest Brazilian cities which gives its name to this series.
Ed uses the vowel 'e' to denote his gender fluidity (whereas the vowels 'a' and 'o' usually denote female and male identities in Portuguese), but he's not too bothered about which vowels or pronouns people choose to call him/her. He likes that his gender identity is not fixed and is happy to go along with the whichever pronoun people choose to call him/her.
Ed is proud that there's no separation between his life, art and politics. His life and his activism are his art, and he literally lives amongst them. His personal objects, clothes and artworks play an important part on his gender identity and self-expression.
I couldn't stress enough the importance of Ed's life, artworks and activism. By being visible as a non-binary artist and helping to promote the work of other trans artists he's playing an important role in Brazil's much needed transformation of the understanding of gender's diversity.
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