The Survival Letters: Trans women and gender-based violence

A scene from Four Women, a documentary put together by photographer, Tamara Wilson. The documentary forms part of a multi-media body of work looking into gender-based violence experienced by transgender women.

Photography by Tamara Wilson

“Trans women frequently do not receive the same level of support and assistance, both socially and legally, as cis women when experiencing gender-based violence. The intention of this work is to shed light on the pervasive gender-based and sexual violence and discrimination faced by trans women in Cape Town,” says photographer, Tamara Wilson, about her motivation for putting together her body of work, ‘Four Women’.

A 2021 research article looking into the violence experienced by sexual and gender minorities in nine African countries – Botswana, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe – found that, while “experiences of violence were high across participants of all sexual orientations and gender identities, transgender women had experienced the highest levels of violence”, with 73% having experienced some form of violence in their lifetime.

Despite this – and South Africa’s notoriously high rates of gender-based violence – other research noted that there is still “the continual invisibility of black trans persons, and in particular black trans women, in anti-GBV activism”.

In Wilson’s body of work – seen in the documentary and slideshows below – four transgender women detail, in their own words, their experiences as survivors of gender-based violence.

Says Wilson: “These images and the accompanying hand-written notes seek to amplify the voices of trans women, drawing attention to the marginalisation they endure due to societal transphobia. It challenges viewers to acknowledge the systemic failures that leave trans women vulnerable and calls for the urgent need for systemic change, advocating for policies and societal shifts that will protect the rights and dignity of trans individuals.

The Cape Town-based photographer adds: “Trans women are women. They deserve the same support and protection as all women.”