Monthly Milwaukee Meeting: “Our Trans Family”

Our Trans Family is a project to capture images of transgender people and their family.  The purpose is to create an awareness of the breadth and complexity of people who love and support each other.   Our hope is that this type of project will create a better more realistic understanding of the trans community.
Each of the photographers on the project have decades of experience as documentary photographers.  Jeff Pearcy, Meredith Watts, and Rikki Thompson formed a collaborative organization “For Good” Photography to work with non-profit organizations to create images that support the organization’s mission.  We also create projects that reflect our concern for human rights.
To see more of their work, go to www.forgoodphotography.com.

 
Speaker: Jeff Pearcy was the chief photographer for a daily newspaper in the 80’s.  He went on to be the Executive Director for two non-profit organizations.   He began shooting documentary photography in 2007.  He has worked for a variety of local and international organizations.  He was sent to the Philippines to document the recovery effort from Typhoon Hiyan by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.  In 2008 he completed a series of thirty photographs of same sex couples.  This series has had over twenty gallery installations, one thousand dvds were produced and a book was completed.
 
 

What’s the purpose of FORGE’s Milwaukee Monthly Meetings?

1. Share information on pre-selected subjects.
   [Ideas for discussions, speakers, books, films, and panels are initiated by group recommendations and facilitator suggestions. With only 12 monthly meetings per year, these topics only touch a small number of areas with plenty of room for post-meeting discussion and other groups to take on other topics.]
2. Provide support for people who attend.
   [All people who are interested in trans and gender non-binary issues are welcome.
   We encourage people to participate at their level of comfort.
3. [Note: Milwaukee Monthly Meetings are not political action or social justice-focused events. Our purpose is support and information-sharing. There is ample community space for political organizing, confronting injustice, and creating action agendas.
   FORGE monthly meetings are not that space.]

WORKING AGREEMENTS
Creating a space where people can feel free to participate is important. These are some working agreements and principles that FORGE meetings operate under. We will review and add to this list at tonight’s meeting.

1. Confidentiality / Privacy
2. Use “I” statements
3. One person / one mic
4. Move up / move back
5. Oops and ouch (and snap)
6. People can choose to be quiet / Participation is voluntary
7. We are more than our gender (or any one identity/component)
8. Speak about own experiences – please do not talk about others not in the room
9. Criticism-free zone – no hurtful or negative comments about individuals or agencies
10. In this support-centered space, everyone has an equal voice
11. Respect different backgrounds, experiences, and identities
12. Remember we all have trauma