CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project © Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project © Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project View all images ↓
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"Cora" is a long-term collaborative visual documentation that follows the growth of her protagonist, Cora, a Spanish trans girl, over the years and through the multiple areas of life that had historically been inaccessible to trans people.

In 2016 Cora Navarro Valenzuela was 5 years old when she made her gender transition, becoming the youngest trans person in Spain. Cora revolutionised every space of her life, reflecting that gender transition is a community process, not just an individual one. I met Cora in 2018 when I had just moved to Barcelona. Since then we have been working together on this collaborative project "Cora" which bears her name, and documents her story and her growth through, through all the life universes that have historically expelled trans people. This work include photographs, and archive material. Capturing Cora holistically adds a layer of power to the narrative, revealing the present and future impact of her ‘journey’. Often, when we think of LGTBIQ people, we think of adult people. Since the 1989 Convention, children have been considered subjects of rights. However, trans minors are still among the most vulnerable to bullying, assault, and suicide. Trans people have always existed, but historically, the first place of exclusion of trans people was the family. Then, other spaces (social, school, legal, health, etc.) also expelled these people, denying from the beginning the possibility of a trans childhood. According FELGTBI+2023survey, 58.3% of trans people are not visible in their environment for fear:” When a family, school, friends, respects a trans child, they are literally saving their lives”. The life of Cora demonstrates that it is possible to be a trans minor and grow up happy if the environment now respects and accompanies you. The relationship between photography and trans community has evolved from a tool of stigmatisation to a means of affirmation, visibility and positive storytelling. My narrative approach prioritises compassion and humanity. Capturing Capturing Cora holistically from 360 degrees adds a layer of power to the narrative, revealing the present and future impact of her ‘journey’. It also reflects changes in the Spanish context, with approval of the Trans Law BOE-A-2023-5366. This is a unique opportunity to create authentic representations of the new trans generation.

I do not see these images as finite and immobile pieces, but as tools to advocate for trans rights. Cora (now 14) belongs to the first generation of trans people to make the transition in childhood. It is unknown really how the children of this generation who are accepted, will evolve into adults. Nor do we know how society will evolve. The only thing we know for sure is that there has been a total rupture between the lives of these trans children and those of children of previous generations.

CORA was supported by IWMF and Leica Women Photograph. This story report inspired the Spanish Trans Law BOE-A-2023-5366.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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This is an image from the Navarro Valenzuela family archive showing which we know today as Cora (3) in the summer 2014, before her gender transition, playing mermaid in a community pool in Barcelona. "Pre-transition photos are not a taboo or something to hide, they are part of a vital process," confess Cora and her family. Historically, trans people were ashamed of the family archive.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (7) looks for the camera in her room in Barcelona, on January 2019, with a reflection of rainbow colors.On 16 November 2016, she made her transition. But she had chosen her name several months earlier. -I am Cora, she says when her family agreed to accompany her in the gender transition.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (7), her mother Ana (48) and her grandmother Ana (75) talk in grandmother's house, on January 2019 in Barcelona. Cora's grandmother was fundamental in the transition, in November 2016, when her daughter Ana explained that "his "grandson was now "Cora."-A girl? Cora? Well... my love is the same, she said.Historically, the first place of exclusion of a trans experience was the family.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (8) plays disguised as a unicorn in the park of her neighbourhood of Barcelona where in 2016 she had told her mother:-mommy, no one sees me, no one sees that I'm really a girl. After her transition in November 2016, some kids in the park laughed at her when they saw her in dresses. But Cora didn't give it any importance. "I didn't want to hide who I am anymore." she remember.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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School photo of Cora (intervened with stickers) with her classmates, in 2015, when she was in preschool, one grade before her gender transition. School, after home, is the second most important place for a person's full development. School institutions historically not been supportive of trans children. Cora was the first trans girl to belong to the educational community.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (7) does gym at a school recess at her school "Sant Ferrán" in Barcelona, on January 2019, as her friend Salma (7) holds her legs to keep her safe. Her teacher Elisenda Dunyó remembers that first day of transit:-Cora just run and run. That feeling of freedom she had when she saw that she was accepted. The school had no information about trans children, but sought information and support.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (8) and her friend Shannon (8), nervously waiting their turn to go on stage dressed as Mary Poppins, at the school's end-of-year party, on may 2019. For Cora it was very important to be able to participate in school parties dressed up a tipical "female roles", once she made her gender transition.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (8) shouts under the trans banner "it's not my body, it's your look", during a day for trans children's rights, in June 2019, in Barcelona. In the last 5 years, trans childhood has strongly emerged in LGBTQ demonstrations, historically attributed only to the adult world.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (8), jumps the inflatable, on july 2019, in Barcelona. Now she enjoys wearing her hair loose and free. "I feel free, even my hair knows it," says Cora. Feeling recognized in her wider environment, the importance of feeling validated and accompanied, access to education, health and sports are fundamental to Cora's growth.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Marc (21) holds his sister Cora's (10). Marc was an essential support in her transition. On his wrist you can read "Cora," tattooed a few months after his sister's transition in 2016.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (9) bathes on a central Barcelona beach on July 2020. "I was born knowing I was a girl," she said that afternoon as the sun set and she played at being a "free mermaid." That afternoon, she confessed to me that she had chosen her name in 2016 because of a cartoon starring a mermaid called "Cora". "When I saw her on TV, I knew that was my name too. No one in her family knew until then why.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (9) visits the science museum "Cosmo Caixa, in Barcelona, on June 2020, in the first outings, after the Spanish quarantine. During the Crisis Covid, Cora lost her grandmother to the virus, and she suffered harsh anxiety attacks. ‘I think my grandmother is in that star,’ says Cora.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (10) thinks about her wishes while smiling in front of her 10th birthday cake, on her house in Barcelona, on February 9, 2021. "Turning years" for trans people is often a consecration. Historically, for the trans peaple, growing old meant growing old alone. There was no ‘space’ to wish for anything. -When I grow up I want to be a computer scientist or a unicorn maker”, says Cora now.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (11) poses for the camera in her room in Barcelona, already looking like a teenager, on February 2022. She has dyed her hair red. She has already spent more than half her life under her real identity. She and her family will soon be moving to a new city. For trans people, change can be more stressful, as it means leaving the ‘safe spaces’ where everyone knows their identity.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (12) undresses in her new room in Rubí, after an afternoon at the pool, in the summer of 2022. The sun has marked her skin. Cora is eager to buy her first bra. Adolescence is beginning to loom and changes are on the horizon. "I have heard that in adolescence everything is different. It's hard to imagine the future. But... growing up makes me curious," says Cora.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (11) celebrate with her mother, Ana Valenzuela (52) at their home in Rubí, the passage of the Trans law on December 30, 2022. The law recognizes the existence of trans children and provides important measures against discrimination, and placed Spain as one of the 4 countries in Europe that grants more rights to the LGTBI community, according to ILGA. Ana was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (12) celebrates victory in a game with her friends, Febr 2023. Sport is one of the areas where trans people encounter the most obstacles. According UPV/EHU, in Spain, 18.9% of transgender people suffer harassment in sport. Cora was the first trans person to belong to her neighborhood sports club.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (12) in the kitchen, wearing her favourite "Mickey Mouse" pyjamas, a sunrise in January 2024. She holds the first hormone pills in her hands. Thanks to the new Spanish Trans Law which provides access to hormones within the public health system. "I am very happy", confesses Cora. She belongs to the first generation to undergo hormone treatment from an early age.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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On the photo, the flowers Cora (12) received on her last day of elementary school in June 2023. She has completed an important stage in every person's life, where she has been able to flourish. Childhood is over. High school will soon be starting. Cora will go to a very big secondary school, and the whole environment will be new.

© Gabo Caruso - Image from the CORA. Does the world change if I change my gender? / Evolutionary work since 2018 photography project
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Cora (13) contemplates the sky, and and she is embraced by two friends Johana and Ariana, on march 2024. A few months ago, she started High school. "A week ago, a boy shouted in class that I was a boy. It was very ugly because I hadn't told anyone yet. But my new friends, they supported me, and that's what matters most to me. Cora’s family has gone to High school to demand diversity education.