Chedino

For the past 10 years, I have been documenting the lives of female activists and their personal struggles to encourage change in the communities in which they live. My work focusses often on social justice and the role of women in sub-Saharan Africa society. The resulting body of work highlights the successes of incredible women who are smashing glass ceilings. Some of the women actively campaign for change. Others encourage change by setting an example. But all, in their own way, work hard to change the way they are viewed by the world around them. For the past 8 years, I have followed Chedino, a trans woman living in a Cape Town suburb, as she completed her trans journey. Chedino spent 12 years on a waiting list at the Transgender Clinic, one of the few units in South Africa that specialises in performing gender affirming surgery. The hospital provides surgical time for 4 surgeries per year. Patients are charged according to income and paying for the procedure privately can cost between €30,000 and €40,000. Most transgender patients have no choice but wait and hope that they will receive one of the few free surgeries. Now happily married to her husband Keagan, Chedino feels she was ‘lucky’. Most surgical candidates are now told to expect a 25 to 30 year wait before they become eligible for a free procedure. This partly because of a positive change of attitude towards transgenders in South Africa and the resulting sharp increase in the number of applicants to the Transgender Clinic. The long wait is not helped by the fact that there is only one surgeon in the Western Cape capable of performing the complex surgical procedures involved in gender affirming surgery.