Paloma

Dan Agostini

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Paloma vive em uma casa de acolhimento em São Paulo, chamada Casa Florescer II, junto de outras 29 mulheres transexuais. Durante a pandemia estive documentando a vida de 15 mulheres residentes da casa para entender como a o momento atual vem impactando suas vidas e potencializando o estado de vulnerabilidade que muitas delas vivem.

No contexto atual a dificuldade para ingressar no mercado de trabalho formal foi potencializada, dificuldade que muitas delas já encontravam antes mesmo de viver uma pandemia. Para conseguir manter as necessidades básicas como higiene e vestimenta, muitas das mulheres presentes nesse trabalho encontram na prostituição a solução de renda.

O acesso à saúde pública, necessidade comum entre as meninas por motivos variados como tratamento de feminização, doenças sexuais e violência, também foi impactado no momento atual, e se mantém sem o posicionamento adequado de muitos profissionais em relação às pessoas transgênero.

O distanciamento e o isolamento social estipulado como meio de segurança ao Covid19 também são fatores que implicam riscos na vida das meninas, já que muitas precisam ir para as ruas trabalhar, e a casa onde vivem não possui estrutura adequada para esse fim, atualmente as meninas dividem poucos banheiros e um único dormitório.

As imagens desse projeto apresentam os rostos e corpos que carregam essas histórias, e registros desses cotidianos que ilustram suas realidades. Paloma é o nome de uma dessas 15 mulheres que contaram suas histórias sobre violência, prostituição, desamparo, cárcere, sonhos e coragem.

Wig drying at Casa Florescer, in São Paulo, Brazil. The house is one of two in the city that welcomes up to 30 transsexuals and transvestites women - there is no similar structure for trans men.
 During the pandemic I have been documenting the lives of some of the women living in the house to understand how the current moment is impacting their lives and potentiating the state of vulnerability that many of them live.  
In the current context, the difficulty to enter the formal labor market has been potentialized, a difficulty that many of them had encountered even before living through a pandemic. In order to maintain basic needs such as hygiene and clothing, many of the women present in this work find in prostitution the solution of income. Access to public health, a common need among girls for various reasons such as treatment of feminization, sexual diseases, and violence, has also been impacted at the present time, and remains without the adequate positioning of many professionals in relation to transgender people.  
The distance and social isolation stipulated as a means of security to Covid19 are also factors that imply risks in the lives of girls, since many need to go to the streets to work, and the house where they live does not have adequate structure for this purpose, currently girls share few bathrooms and a single dormitory. 
 * This project is possible thanks to the support of the National Geographic Society.
Wig
Geisa arranges the hair in the bathroom of the Florescer house II, in São Paulo, Brazil. During the day, the girls enjoy their free time to color their hair, do nails and makeup. Many of them also use their time to study.
Geisa
Janaina takes a bath in one of the 5 bathrooms of the trans women's support in São Paulo, Brazil. Janaina believes that the division of these spaces among 30 women increases the risks of Coronavirus contamination.
Janaina
Vitória, 19, poses for portrait while arranging to go out with her friends in a support house for transsexual women in São Paulo. Due to the difficulty in finding formal work during the pandemic, Vitória works as a sex worker to maintain some basic needs such as hygiene and clothing.
Vitória
Celina aplica hormônio feminino em Stefany em um dos banheiros da Casa Florescer II. A burocracia que envolve documentos e consultas com endocrinologistas, além do número limitado de vagas para tratamentos de feminização em unidades de saúde pública, são alguns dos motivos que levam mulheres transexuais e travestis ao uso de hormônios e injeção de silicone industrial sem acompanhamento médico.
Celina
Kimberli, Allana and Janaina pose for portrait in the dormitory of the support house for transgender women where they live in São Paulo. Six months after the beginning of the pandemic, the manager of Casa Florescer II, Mr. Gilson Reis, managed to raise funds through donations to put partition walls in the room in order to reduce the risks of contamination of covid-19 and also improve privacy between them.
Kimberli, Allana e Janaina
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Erica poses for portrait outside the Casa Florescer support house in São Paulo, Brazil, before leaving to work as a sex professional. Of the 16 women photographed during the project, only 3 never went into prostitution. It is estimated that 90% of transsexual and transvestite women in Brazil find in prostitution a means of survival, due to the lack of inclusion policies in the formal labor market. Erica entered a new job conducting research with the public, but worked only for one day due to the beginning of the pandemic.
Erica
Celina, 19, and Lourena, 21, live in a support house for transgender women in São Paulo and work at Praça do Jaçanã, a prostitution spot near where they live.  Celina left Fortaleza for São Paulo at 16 with her dream of becoming a model. Lourena left home for the first time at 19 after family conflicts related to gender identity. Before, the two worked in events and bars, but during the pandemic they had to resort to prostitution.
Celina
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Geysa answers Geography questions for school work, in São Paulo, Brazil. Geysa returned to school at the end of the semester of 2020 due to the delay of her documents for school registration during the pandemic. Services for issuing documents remained inaccessible until the end of August in São Paulo. With the return to studies Geysa began to receive financial aid from a São Paulo City Hall program for transsexuals attending school.
Geisa faz as lições de georgrafia para a escola
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Lolla Francis se prepara para um evento online ao qual foi convidada em um dos poucos cômodos isolados da Casa Florescer II, onde o barulho do local é menor do que no dormitório. A conta @juntoscomalolla no Instagram tem pouco mais de 13 mil seguidores. Nela, Lolla compartilha um pouco da sua vida e realiza lives sobre transexualidade e transfobia.
Lolla Francis se prepara para um evento online. Em sia conta @juntoscomalolla Lolla compartilha um pouco da sua vida e realiza lives sobre transexualidade e transfobia.
Janaina, 29, awaits medical attention for STD treatment at a public health unit in São Paulo, Brazil. At 19, Janaina was jailed for the first time, for trafficking. Since then, her life is a succession of breaks between prison and the struggle for survival on the streets. During the development of the project, Janaina returned to prison trying to make a report of an occurrence for transphobia. The police found that a new decision on an old drug trafficking case had been made.
Janaina
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Dan-Agostini
Dan Agostini
São Paulo – SP
Fotógrafa
@dn_agostini