The velvet butterfly

• Prize
• Photographer
  Elisabetta Zavoli, Italy

“Waria” people are Indonesian transgender, the name comes from
two words “wanita” (woman) and “pria” (man). They are born male
but, while growing up, they feel to have a female soul: some of
them try to reach womanhood also physically thanks to surgery
and hormone treatment because they don’t feel comfortable with
their penis while others don’t want to change completely
physically and they fulfil femininity through make-up, dress-up
and attitude. Mami Yulie is one of the latter. What kind of
extraordinary identity switch Mami Yulie has gone through? It is
some kind of transformation like that of caterpillars becoming
butterflies: deep, total, irreversible. For this reason, they can stand
as metaphor for transgender people: same person but different
identities, through life.

This portrait series aims to go beyond cultural and geographical
differences of transgender people but, on the contrary, aims to
investigate the inner process of transformation to fulfil one’s
identity.

• Awards
  In May 2016 I've received Journalism Grant, by European Journalism Centre, in order to document the loss of mangroves ecosystems in Indonesia driven by the raise of western (EU and USA) consumption of cheap tropical shrimps.