Trillium Health is a sponsor of To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults at the Eastman Museum. The exhibition provides a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offers a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.
"This exhibition has multiple emotions. As you walk around and read the stories you see pain, hope, courage, connectiveness, and power of the human spirit." - Andrea DeMeo, President & CEO
For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the U.S. seeking individuals whose experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location. Dugan and Fabbre moved from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of transgender and gender nonconforming older adults, an important but largely underrepresented population. The project’s participants have a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the U.S.
"Seeing this exhibit it gives me hope. As a Black Trans woman, as a Latina, seeing other women of color just overcome everything and still living their lives and their truths and not caring what anyone has to say is really amazing and powerful." - Bianca Castro, Transgender Center of Excellence
"Some of the stories are remarkable. For me personally, it's nice to see older people that are represented because I transitioned 35 years ago and no one really knew what it was. It was a tough time but I got through it. But to read some of the stories now, and to know that these people are still around and they're doing great things... and I think we do great things at Trillium. I'm happy to be part of it." - Patrick Pitoni, Transgender Center of Excellence
"It reinforces the mission of our organization that we serve all and all includes everybody that I just saw in that room." Jason Barnecut-Kearns, CFO
The exhibition runs June 19, 2021–January 2, 2022. Click here for more information.