The Case for Trans Visual Studies

Over the past two decades, there has been an unprecedented proliferation of trans visual culture globally. While there has rightly been much discourse around how this increase in trans visibility has been met with vitriol and political backlash, very little scholarly attention has been paid to the visuality of trans visual culture. To overlook the current moment of unprecedented trans visual culture without delving into trans visual studies analysis of the phenomenon is to make a critical error and potentially overlook the significant impact that trans visualities are having on art, visual culture, identity constituencies, theories of representations, imaging practices, and more. For example, critical race, trans, visual culture scholar C. Riley Snorton noted that trans people create a “crisis of visuality,” raising questions about where the “truth” of a body is located. Trans visual studies provides methods for de-essentializing the privileging of sight and moving toward unprecedented understandings of art, visual culture, identity, and beyond. This panel champions rigorous interdisciplinarity, uniting fields such as trans studies, visual studies, critical race studies, art history, performance studies, and trans creative practices. It embraces critical and creative investigations that delve into the myriad interventions trans visual studies and trans creative practices are having broadly. It also supports the continuous evolution of trans visual studies approaches for in-depth analysis of trans visual culture. The interdisciplinary methods fostered and co-informed by the study of trans visual culture will undoubtedly have impactful applications far beyond the nascent field.