Cora(je) by Gabo Caruso

"Does the world change if I change my gender?

The word courage derives from cor heart in latin and kardia in greek.
Having the courage is a synonym of daring, of putting your heart forward.

When the sun rises I want to be a girl, she told her mother one night before she closing her eyes to sleep. In that oneiric space hidden in her pillow there was an announced reality, hers. That happened a few years ago, when Cora was still not recognised as Cora. A few months later walking with her mother in the park the situation became untenable. No one sees me, she said. She was 5.

The trans collective has always existed, for long time what wasn't there were the families standing by their side. Historically, the first place of exclusion of a trans experience was the family, which was supposed to be a shelter of responsible love. Instead, they would be the ones to condemn.

I write this letter so that you can read it when you are older. I do it from my deepest affection and wishing you all the happiness, writes her mother in a letter, so she can read in the future. In it she explains how those first days of Cora were.

Her grandmother was an essential link during her transition when her daughter arrived one afternoon of November at her place to explain her that her grandchild from now on would be Cora. That sweet afternoon of autumn didn't change a thing. ¿A girl? ¿Cora? Well, that's it. The love of a grandmother is the same. No more no less.

A trans childhood reflects the change in an heteronormative system that starts accepting little by little diversity. Today Cora is a girl who dreams of making unicorns.

Long term my photo essay Cora(je) pretends to walk with Cora through her years and her vital universes. I met Cora when she was 7, two years after having completed her transit. This kind of childhood represents a true gender revolution."

Gabo Caruso is a photojournalist specialized in gender issues. You can check her work here and follow her on Instagram.