Trans In The World - Mandy Romero - Strange Lands and How to Survive

This Project was a real challenge - and nearly finished me off. And yet it was a real gesture of some global significance, to carry trans publicly into these strange and often secretive lands. The Project was supported by Arts Council England. This is the selection of Images which formed the Show "Strange Lands And How To Survive". It was a partner piece to "The Fall" a Visual/Sound Installation about an incident during the Journey. The pictures have been shown as prints twice and digitally for TDOV and as part of an on-line art show in Ukraine. They are still available for exhibition. Show Details below. [Since the exhibition was last shown the situation of the Uighurs has become an international issue, Ukraine has been invaded and Shavkat Boltaev has passed away. His photography still deserves to be better known. ] STRANGE LANDS AND HOW TO SURVIVE The story of a remarkable journey of risk and adventure is captured in photographs in the exhibition, “Strange Lands And How To Survive”. When transgender artist Mandy Romero set off to cross Asia from China to Turkmenistan in the summer of 2017 she was determined to bring back a visual record of her encounters in some of the most illiberal and intolerant regimes in the Northern Hemisphere. Travelling with a large square of red silk as her main costume resource, to signify both the communist origins of the countries en route and the Silk Road route she was following, she brought back to the UK a set of portraits of herself taken by a fascinating variety of photographers, most of them met for the first time along the way. The portraits include location shots from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In all of these countries transgender is unrecognized and often threatened by legislation and attitudes which outlaw LGBT individuals, with sanctions that range from imprisonment to sterilization. Despite this situation many of the shots reveal Mandy made welcome by local people in her photoshoots. The exhibition shows the images in the context of each country’s history and politics. Mandy Romero, has provided an accompanying account of the journey and the characters encountered. THE IMAGES Xian, China - City Walls – taken by Nicolas Harter A2 Nicolas was based in Nanjing, although French by nationality, and I invited him to accompany me through China and Kazakhstan. Xi’an is the traditional destination of the Silk Roads at their Eastern end (as well as the location of the Terracotta Warriors). The original walls date from Silk Road times. My notes for the shoot record a momentary morning respite from the city’s summer heat. The Bazaar, Xian/The Great Mosque/Street Scene – taken by Nicolas Harter A2 The People’s Park, Urumqi – Gateway/Encounter - taken by Nicolas Harter A2 Urumqi is in Xinjiang, China’s far-North-West, where the Uighur separatists constitute a “security threat”, but in the Park at its 9 o’clock morning opening the place is thronged with people and busy will all kinds of activity. Some people reacted to me and my silk and some didn’t. No-one was hostile. Almaty, Kazakhstan - Trans wedding on a rooftop – Dance/Red at Night - taken by Nicolas Harter A2 Ruthie and Masha were my first trans contacts in Kazakhstan and on the night of the Perseid shower they held a marriage ceremony attended by a lot of the LGBT community. Here I am dancing with Ruthie and posing in the shadows. British Council Workshop in Almaty - taken by Nicolas Harter A4 The British Council in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital, had helped me make LGBT contacts in the city. I offered a workshop for the local trans community which I ran in the British Council’s offices and for part of it I invited participants to devise a dress from me using my silk. They did well. Future Energy World Expo in Astana, Kazakhstan – Future Architecture/Pavilion Selfie/Dancing Cloths - taken by Nicolas Harter A2 One of the reasons for my travelling was to visit the Expo in the new Kazakh capital. It was truly a surreal and overwhelming experience, like being caught in a parallel existence. My notes say, “futuristic, strange, idealistic, diverse, popular, often magic”. Algabas, Kazakhstan - Live Art Action Day– taken by Igor Sludskiy A2 Nicolas had to return to Nanjing before I travelled on from Almaty. Meanwhile I was running a Live Artists Action Day in Algabas, a faraway and futuristic super-modern suburb of Almaty. I had time to carry out an action of my own using my silk as a way of connecting with the local people. Children in particular loved playing games with it. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - Studio Shot – taken by Vitali and Dmitri Beloshapkin A2 Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan. I found the Beloshapkin brothers through the internet and Facebook. They didn’t think it would be wise to take photographs of me in public so they took me to their studio where we worked on portraits inspired by pictures of Daniel Lismore. This is the most dramatic of them. Khorog, Tajikistan – Mountain Silk – taken by Ibrohim Afzunov A2 In Tajikistan I travelled through the Pamir Mountains and my guide and driver was Ibrohim. When we arrived at his home city of Khorog I asked him to take some pictures of me with my silk. He is a strict Ismaeli Muslim but Ismaeli’s are understanding and tolerant people and he agreed. This was one of the best shots. Dushanbe, Tajikistan – Garden Portrait/Garden Encounter – taken by Nargisi Hisravzod A2 When I got to the Tajik capital Dushanbe I checked the wedding photographer web-sites and found Nargiz. She suggested meeting me at the Botanical Gardens where she took some typical wedding portraits. It was another moist and fresh Central Asian morning. In parting she gave me a hat. Tashkent, Uzbekistan – Street-Shot/Shopping – taken by Mukhiddin Ali A2/A4 The British Council in Tashkent suggested Mukhhiddin and he found a couple of hours in his busy schedule as a wedding photographer to take me to the Earthquake Monument for some portraits, but he also had a traditional Uzbek head-covering in the boot of his car and he matched it with some graffiti for this shot. Afterwards he caught me having a chat with a shopkeeper near my hotel. Bukhara, Uzbekistan – Courtyard Birds/Photo break – taken by Shavkat Boltaev A2 I hadn’t expected to have more photographs taken in Uzbekistan but when I arrived in deeply ancient city of Bukhara and came across the Photo Gallery I knew that I had to have its owner Shavkat do some pictures of me. It’s a great location, an old caravanserai (guest-house) with a courtyard where these were taken. Bukhara was friendlier than I had expected, and Shavkat is a master. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – Market/First President – taken by Yuri Niyazov A4 Yuri came to me through the travel company. No pictures can capture the weirdness of Turkmenistan and its abstract capital, but with Yuri as my brisk expert guide and photographer we came near to doing so. It’s a hugely repressive country but I got away with taking the mickey out of First President Niyazov (no relation) and the locals were really quite accommodating. To see a fuller version of the journey with pictures go to,- https://silkontheroad.wordpress.com/