INTERSECTION

After the first two bodies of work, Hamblin felt that the informative intersection of his own experience and theirs was not explored enough. The third chapter of this work – Intersections – finally turns the lens pointedly at Hamblin, next to members of The Sistaaz Hood group. The works depict performances of his current identity as a post transition person, essentially a working class male, juxtaposed to their multiple performed identities. Their survival strategies vacillate identities in their lives – male, female, sex worker, empowered, disempowered. His only shift becomes in reference to them, when he is disrobed and implicated as a client or lover.

The video work becomes more intimate, suggesting a personal relationship between Davids and himself. Her trans visibility is clear, she has to rotate constantly between her lived identity and society’s assigned identity. She is person who has no access to medical treatment. Hamblin’s trans experience is invisible, his presentation stable. He has protection as a middle class person.

Transitioning gender acts as a lens in this work and points to the impacts of poverty and privilege in such a journey. The non-documentary style of the work, time consuming consultation with the subjects and blurry presentation are all part of Hamblin’s determination to explore better ways of art and activism between privileged white artists and minority groups.

Hamblin explains: “The intersection of our lives and the juxtaposition of our bodies bring together very unique stories but we both agree (Davids and I) that this junction has universal symbolism. It offers a vantage point to discuss how poverty and gender inequality weaves across a human body and life in disparate ways. I am privileged; born that way, and therefore sustaining that was a natural result. I am safe, stable. She never is.”