My Hot, Queer Summer

2021

In assembling this project, I sought to document the warmth of my gender expression in the welcoming space that was the summer of 2021.

There were two main pieces of inspiration for this work-- the MCAD Summer Zine’s topic of warmth and the idea that this summer was an emergence from the isolation of the Covid virus that was championed by different peoples with the promise of a “Hot, Queer Summer” in my case. 

This book was a creation of the summer’s levity and I tried to take that carefree nature with the way I crafted my images as I shot the whole book with my phone camera. This project is one of celebration after a year of transferring to a new school in the middle of a pandemic while starting my gender transition. I’ve put in some hard work and this summer gave me the space to finally start growing into my new, feminine self in the  environment of the communities I’ve found living in the Twin Cities. 

This collection of images is a departure from my last year’s work only in tone. I’ve simply lived and loved more in this summer than I have in a long time, as I’ve allowed myself to start living my truth. It’s been so wonderful being in tune with the beauty the summer’s texture, a perspective I aim to maintain throughout every season I find in the little neighborhood that surrounds my school and my new home. 

This book is a testament to a connection with joy long buried to be unearthed in the summer of 2021-- my first summer out as a transwoman and the first of many Hot, Queer Summers to come. 

Available at the Minneapolis Central Library.