Body of/in Work: Moving Images and the Representation of Trans Sex Workers

Abstract

By investigating the visualisation of trans lives—particularly those of trans sex workers—this article seeks to engage with trans responses to the idea of gendered citizenship, in particular through the use of the moving image. Such images, as seen in the work of activist and artist Robert Hamblin, are important for drawing attention to the manner in which cisgender norms operate and leave their traces on trans bodies. Understanding photography and film’s capacity for facilitating trans visibility, Hamblin’s work is concerned with trans subjects and their negotiation of those normative structures that attempt to transfix their experience of gender. Focusing on Hamblin’s work, this article examines forms of representation that are used by, or are in the service of, trans subjects as a means to engage with the precariousness of living and labouring as a sex worker in contemporary South Africa.