The photographic series Transmigrations won first prize in the "South American PhotoMigration Contest: Migration through other lenses" organized by the IOM Regional Office in South America. Its author is Loreley Ritta.

Transmigrations

“Transmigrations” approaches the cultural practices of the Bolivian cross-dressing migrant collective called Diversidad Bolivia en Argentina (DBA) in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the Pride Parades and self-organised events, this collective bursts into the public space combining, in a brand new way, the cross-dressing art and the traditional dance of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. These instances are a cultural expression between the traditional and modern spheres, but, above all, a support and resistance space for migrants of all genders, sexual orientations and sexual characteristics who demand recognition both within the Bolivian-Argentinian community and the sexual diversity movement of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Through transgender art, the DBA collective responds to the racism and transphobia experienced on a daily basis by persons with diverse gender identities and expressions, and shows that migration does not only take place for economic reasons, but also as a way to overcome sex and gender oppression in the places of origin.

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 6th, 2015. Member of DBA in the 2015 Pride Parade. Every year young people who dare to cross-dress for the first time for this mass event join this group, accompanied by other migrants.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 14th, 2014. Transgender cholitas with the style of La Paz, Plurinational State of Bolivia, are getting ready for the Transgender Miss event organised by DBA.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 9th, 2013. Javier, getting ready to impersonate a “china morena”, a character of the traditional morenada dance in Bolivian carnivals, before a Pride Parade in a venue for Bolivian activities.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 2nd, 2019. Detail of the skirts of younger transgender cholas during the party self-organised by the DBA collective in the neighbourhood of Padre Rodolfo Ricciardelli in Bajo Flores.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 2nd, 2019. A chola from La Paz celebrating after the Pride Parade of that year, at the party self-organised by the DBA collective in the neighbourhood of Padre Rodolfo Ricciardelli in Bajo Flores.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 1st, 2019. The collective’s cultural activities also include migrants from Paraguay and Peru, thus making up a plural Latin American group.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 2nd, 2019. A transgender cholita at a party organised by the DBA collective in the neighbourhood of Padre Rodolfo Ricciardelli in Bajo Flores, after the Pride Parade of that year.
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, November 14th, 2014. Transgender cholitas with the style of La Paz, Plurinational State of Bolivia, are getting ready for the Transgender Miss event organised by DBA in a Bolivian folk venue.

Download here the complete book "Migration through other lenses" which includes this photographic series and other winners of the South American FotoMigración Contest.

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
 

RELATED STORIES