The Next Book/Slide Film From Pride (Patreon)

Hello!

First off, thank you so much to everyone who came to my book event at Elliott Bay this past week. That was, by far, the most incredibly successful day I've had in a while. I had an absolutely amazing time (and felt weirdly satisfied with myself afterwards???) Most important, I am so thankful for all of the immense support that people have shown me, and I'm still a bit shocked and flabbergasted by it. It has been a long year and viscerally realizing that my work has genuinely touched people made it all worth it.

If you missed it but want to see me speak about the book some, here's my TV appearance on New Day Northwest!

Now, of course, why not move onto the next book. These shots here today are all 35mm slide film from Pride weekend in Seattle this year (mix of E100 and Provia), developed and scanned by my friend Ronen. These are the foundation for the next (physical) photobook. I have a publisher lined up, which I will announce soon.

I will share the pitch document below:

Book Proposal: Pollination

The state of trans people in the United States 

As I write this in the latter half of 2025, it is increasingly clear that the United States government is falling into a form of authoritarian rule, and the consolidation of power under a single strongman figure is well underway. Public schools, private universities, corporations, formerly apolitical governmental institutions, hospitals, museums, nonprofits, courts—every aspect of American life has been impacted by the new administration’s war on previously-deeply-held American values. 

Vital government funding is now dispensed with the understanding it will not be used for diverse (i.e. non-cis, non-heterosexual, non-white) voices. For the most part, a strategy of deference and appeasement in advance has been the primary choice of massive organizations, lest they lose that funding. Individuals who dare defy the unconstitutional edicts of the government are doggedly pursued with the now-fully-weaponized court system, in the form of lawfare and police force. 

As a transgender woman (and a Communist one at that), I am a member of a community that is in existential peril from this wave of repression. Donald Trump made his anti-trans positions a clear plank of his presidential campaign and from day one his administration has pursued us. Our medication, our employment, our ability to exist in public, and the very language we use to describe ourselves is in peril. While the extent of this government’s actual ability to wipe us off the face of the Earth has yet to be seen, I believe it is patently clear that the U.S. government’s goal is nothing less than the total elimination of my people. 

This is not the first time (nor likely the last) that a fascist government—or the U.S. government—has sought to wipe out transgender people and culture. Paradoxically, this is heartening for a few reasons. One, no one has succeeded at extinguishing transgender people: the living, breathing, loving, joyful community I have is evidence of that. Two, as a community constantly under attack, we have centuries of history to guide us on how to adapt to the most hostile conditions, how to survive underground, and how to pass on the culture we have collectively created. 

Pollination’s intent

Queer people do not pass on our traditions or art in a linear fashion as many other minority communities do. Queerness is not a biological trait that can be passed on, nor is it one that can be selected for or avoided. Instead, our new generations can and do come from every background and family and walk of life.

In order to tell these future generations about what we learned and how we lived, we must  create cultural documentation for them to discover. Discovering past generations’ work is how I, and many of my friends and lovers, have learned to thrive as queer people in a hostile world. I believe this positions photography as a uniquely important medium for us—it is the easiest way to show the queer children of the future who their ancestors were and how, even in the days of scarce sun and much darkness, we still blossomed. 

This work is intended for that end. Pollination will be a book of photography of queer people that intentionally blurs which photographs are spontaneous or posed, which are laviscous or artistic, which are genuine life and which are orchestrated protest. I will seamlessly blend posed, multi-light shots with candid behind-the-scenes, scheduled Pride events with birthday parties, intimate couples in studios with casual latex in the park. I find the distinction between these irrelevant, because the photos in this book will be what my queer friends & I have deemed worthy of capturing and saving. That is all that is needed to make it a genuine record of our history, because the truth is in the images.

The photos will all be taken on slide film and printed with the sprocket holes of the film itself showing. There will be no cropping, no object-removal, no AI noise reduction, as I find it important to demonstrate the physical, unedited aspect of the work. I believe it is key, for a book positioned as a cultural document, to allow the viewer to trust in the veracity of the image—especially in an era where genAI slop threatens to render the image defunct as a depiction of truth.

Most importantly, as a Communist, I believe that the efforts of ordinary people working together are what will dictate our futures and shape the story of our era.

As such, the book itself is an attempt to democratize the process of preservation. The initial launch will be numbered at the total of photos in the book, and every copy will include a single original slide. If museums in our era attempt to purge their archives of trans creators, let them. If the fascists shoot me and burn my personal collection of negatives, so be it. This work that shows happy queer life in the heart of their country will already be scattered to the wind, safely in the hands of a hundred people on multiple continents. It is exceedingly unlikely every copy and every original slide will survive, but it is even less likely that the fascists can destroy every single one.

As certain as the seasons come and go, this era will pass. As the tides of repression retreat, this book will fulfill its purpose as a record of what our time was like.

...

Anyway, there's the pitch. I started a new medication that seems to be working that's reinvigorated me and given me the will to live again, so I am also working on my novel more, because of course I am.

Thank you all so much again.

Vicki <3