Alex P.
In search of happiness
Photo by Livio Catalano
Most of us identify with our biological gender. Transsexuals and transgender people are individuals who do not identify with this sex and have a different gender identity or psychological sex. They often live deeply troubled lives due to the constant mismatch between their gender identity and their sex assigned at birth (known as “gender dysphoria”), as well as the continuous prejudice and discrimination they’re subjected to. Many choose to take a long and complex road and transition to their preferred gender, which can go as far as undergoing surgical procedures to modify their anatomical sexual characteristics. During an initial period of approximately one year, transsexuals see the changes their bodies undergo and can experiment socially before deciding whether to go through with the sex conversion surgery.
Alex P., whose birth name is Alessandra, is a transsexual from the Sicilian province of Caltanissetta and lives in Palermo: he’s thirty years old, is a graduate of the Accademia di Belle Arti (Art School) and has hearing difficulties. In 2016, Alex decided to undergo sex conversion surgery. He works as a waiter in an ethnic cuisine restaurant, acts with an amateur theatre group, and is an active member of Arcigay Palermo, of which his wife is the current president. Alex and Ana got married by civil ceremony in 2017 and, thanks to artificial insemination, are now parents to a baby girl called Aria, who was born in 2019.
These images tell the story of Alex’s life between 2015 and 2019.
(2015-2019)
