“Queering the Trans✲ Family Album”

Abstract

Historian Elspeth H. Brown and photographer Sara Davidmann explore the relationship between the family photograph album, trans☼ history, and queer archives. Describing their queer archival work, they address topics including ethics; intertwined histories of racism, colonialism, and normativity in photography; and the violent erasures of sexual and gender minorities within the conventional family photography album. “Family” photographs, so central to the affective production of trans☼ family, however defined, have not been the site of sustained discussion within queer history. Brown and Davidmann argue that family photography can also be a site of trans☼ family belonging and queer kinship, despite histories of violent erasure. They discuss these issues with reference to two image sets from Davidmann's work: one from her own family of origin (Ken. To be destroyed) and one from her (queer and trans☼) family of choice (the Stephen Whittle family album).