The project aimed to present reliable information whilst understanding the multiple, overlapping and sometimes contradictory scientific models of sex and transsexuality. The art forms we employed were intended to reflect this in that we wanted to use interdisciplinary, multi-media forms. 

We imagined that the trans young people would learn and implement skills in video camera operating, sound recording, lighting and editing, as well as interview and research techniques. There were to be drama workshops as well as the production of multimedia art works (video installation, performance art and live art. However, all of this depended on the participants' input and wishes. So no decisions were taken about exactly what art the young people would generate until we all met at the first weekend.

One fixed point was that the creative workshops phase of the project would culminate with an exhibition event which was to be curated by and with the participants. This was likely to include a series of works presented on screen, as sound pieces and live performances or presentations.  The exhibition would also include documentation of the process of research and it was our intention that all of this work would be presented for an invited audience of friends, family, the professional and medical practitioners involved, and a range of people with an interest in the subject matter.

Early sessions which focussed on representations of sex and gender in the media and art made it apparent that art offers an ambiguous space where meaning is produced through creative practices and the various readings of those representations. This ambiguity was utilised in the use of autobiography and the artwork produced nuanced representations of trans. The themes of the exhibition reflected the young people's concerns, passions and experiences. These included, 'passing', relationships with family, friends, coming out, feeling different from the 'norm' and negotiating places such as clubs, bars, toilets and trains. The artwork focussed on the participants' own experience of transsexual and transgender identities as a variety of different journeys and potential life trajectories.

Early discussions about the exhibition led to the creation of the 'grey area', an area in the exhibition, which worked to undo gender binaries. Installations included a large toilet cubicle covered in comments that the participants had heard when they have been seen to be entering the 'wrong' toilet, a collage titled Buying into Gender showing gendered consumer goods, a video installation playing with clothes and gender stereotypes, and a sculpture of gender stereotypical clothes which had been subject to some modification.

Here is the 12min short film made by four of the project participants:

Trans Journeys from Jay Stewart on Vimeo.