Históricas

Históricas celebrates the "Argentine Trans Memory Archive" through Sonia, Mychel, Moni, Marce and Teté; elder travesti survivors who have found both refuge and purpose within the Archive, preserving a collective history that is now more vital than ever.

Históricas is a collective project between Mauricio Holc and Hector Villalobos, two queer visual storytellers. Was born from a shared longing, but above all, from a profound sense of intergenerational gratitude. As queer artists from the Global South, we recognize that our ability to create, express, and exist authentically today is directly indebted to the older travesti and trans women who paved the way with their bodies and their resistance.

This work is vital to us because it bridges the gap between their history of survival and our present search for identity. Collaborating with the Archivo de la Memoria Trans allows us to honor their legacy not just as a record of the past, but as a living inspiration. By merging documentary and fashion aesthetics, we aim to construct a visual narrative that celebrates their lives with the dignity, beauty, and reverence they have always deserved.

An historical archive allows us to know, understand, and verify the truth of events that form part of our collective memory. Marcela, Teté, Mychel, Sonia, and Mónica embody a living archive, one filled with recollections and images from an era they were able to survive.

These women belong to the Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina, a space dedicated to preserving, protecting, and honoring trans memory —today more necessary than ever—. The Archive is both a repository of remembrance and a gathering place for the women who once stood at the forefront of a nascent struggle for rights and visibility.

In a country where the average life expectancy of a trans woman is 35 years, the power of these portraits lies not only in their imagery but also in the vitality of their voices, smiles, and gazes. Each one tells a story as raw as it is luminous, a testimony of survival, dignity, and tenderness.

As the structural violence continues to intensify against the most vulnerable groups, amplifying the voices of our Históricas becomes imperative. They are the flag bearers of resistance, those who remain and those who never made it.

To celebrate them is to speak of their legacy, to honor their contribution to a fairer and more equal society, and to uphold their struggles as guiding lights in times marked by denialism and individualism.

Nowdays, the Integral Gender Identity Law, enacted in 2012, stands under threat from new public policies and a growing climate of social hostility. Argentina’s history is complex, but for the trans community, it has been particularly painful. Portraying them, therefore, is not only an act of commemoration but also one of justice, celebration and reparation.

May a bright blue sky forever exalt them, and may their faces —strong, alive, and unyielding— continue to show us the way.

HISTORICAL REPARATION NOW!

This project seeks to celebrate and honor the AMT through fashion portraits created in close collaboration/consensus with the girls and the AMT, offering a form of vindication that has historically been denied to them.

About the Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina:

Founded in 2012 in exile by trans activist María Belén Correa, the Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina (AMT) emerged as a virtual meeting place for trans and travesti survivors scattered around the world. In 2014, with the collaboration of visual artist Cecilia Estalles, the AMT began its ongoing mission of safeguarding and preserving community memory.

The Argentinian Trans Memory Archive holds more than 15,000 documents, spanning from the early 20th century to the late 1990s; including photographs, films, sound recordings, press materials, IDs, passports, letters, police files, magazine articles, and personal diaries.

Its mission is to collect, protect, and amplify the life stories of Argentina’s trans community.

(Source: Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina)