Mariette Pathy Allen: Transcuba [Hardcover]

Mariette Pathy Allen documents the transgender community of Cuba that is growing in visibility and acceptance. Under a slowly evolving model of communism, the women [inTranscuba] are engaged in quiet, banal moments, or else are looking resolutely at the viewer . . . demanding to be seen on their own terms and turf. —The Advocate

Mariette Pathy Allenhas been photographing the transgender community for over 30 years. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing throughout the globe. It won the 2004 Lambda Literary Award in the Transgender/Genderqueer category. Mariette’s life’s work is being archived by Duke University's Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's Studies. In addition to her work with gender, Mariette’s background as a painter frequently leads her to photographic investigations of color, space, and cultural juxtapositions such as east/west, old/new, handmade/manufactured.

Mariela Castro Espín(born July 27, 1962) is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana and an activist for LGBT rights in Cuba. She is the daughter of current Cuban president Raúl Castro and feminist and revolutionary Vilma Espín as well as the niece of former president Fidel Castro. She has a brother, Alejandro Castro Espín. Her group campaigns for effective AIDS prevention as well as recognition and acceptance of LGBT human rights. In 2005 she proposed a project to allow transgender people to receive sex reassignment surgery and change their legal gender. The measure became law in June 2008 which allows sex change surgery for Cubans without charge.

Allen Framelives in New York where he teaches photography at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, and the International Centlă