Archive of Argentinian Trans Memory is a family reunion. It was born from the need to embrace each other again, to see each other again, to reconnect after more than 30 years with the companions we thought were dead, with those we drifted apart from due to differences or exile, and most importantly, with the memories of those who are no longer here. From our past—marked by exclusion and violence—many things were left unresolved in the urgency to exist. Photographs, stories, diaries, magazines, and objects document our activism before activism had a name, and why today, fewer than 100 of us have lived past the age of 55.
The project was initiated by Claudia Pía Baudracco and María Belén Correa, both trans women, activists, and founders of ATA (Asociación de Travestis Argentinas) in 1993. They envisioned a space to bring together surviving companions and their memories. Pía passed away in 2012—just months before the Gender Identity Law was enacted. From exile, María Belén founded the Archivo. In 2014, with the help of photographer Cecilia Estalles, work began on collecting and digitally preserving documentation for its conservation and protection. Today, the Archivo holds a collection of over thirty thousand documents, covering material from the early 20th century to the late 1990s.
The current members of the project are: María Belén Correa, Cecilia Estalles, Carolina Figueredo, Teté Vega, Luis Juárez, Carolina Nastri, Sonia Hernández, Marina Cisneros, Katiana Villagra, Iris Kaufman, Luli Leiras, Marcela Navarro, Mychel Aguilera, Lina Etchesuri, Sofía Naara, Alejandro Correa, and Muriel Bruschi.
Through Archivo, we piece together memories to create portraits of the friends who are no longer here. In the debate over the "true" version of a story, we uncover details we had forgotten—details that another companion preserved, details that orbit within our shared constellation. With nostalgia, joy, and pain, we look inward to bring back the scent of the perfume that defined her, the tone of voice that was uniquely hers, her gestures, her body, the most tragicomic anecdotes of jail cells and police, the one who forever gave her the nickname that would never appear on an ID, the frenzy over the perfect outfit for the grand carnival party, the new family in Paris, Rome, Villa Madero, the days before her death, the nights spent on highways, avenues, forests, or private apartments.
Our reality has always been one of struggle and resistance. And a fierce shine on our lips. Essential traces that would be lost without the practice of intimate, subjective memory—one that, shared among us all, becomes collective.
Being together was the way we found to resist the multiple forms of violence inflicted by both society and the state. Staying united is what we do to strengthen the power of our bonds through the construction of this archive. This is the closest and truest account that can exist about our family—because we, the survivors, are the ones telling it.
For us, this re-edition means being present once again, finding each other in its pages. But it also brings the surprise of new photographs that reveal untold stories of those sisters who once posed for the camera. We present ourselves to the world as we are, without masks. This new book is our family album, where all the glitter shines and the hummingbirds accompany us.
Description:
Hardcover book
Pages: 368
Paper: Chambril 120 gsm
Size: 13 x 17 x 3 cm
The book contains English translations.
Limited edition printed at Talleres Trama
Buenos Aires, Argentina
