Moon is a content creator and trans-activist living in New York. Before reaching out to me, she had never modeled before. She was a bit apprehensive, and she didn't know what to expect.
Neither did I. Before I met her in person, I did not know that she was trans.
There were a few initial moments of surprise. Nevertheless, Moon sat for over twenty hours over four weeks. While working together, I had the opportunity to get to know her somewhat. She opened up to me about her life in a liberal arts college in the northeast.
Moon has dealt with concerns and issues of identity for her entire life. She related her challenges navigating life as a recently transitioned black woman to me as she posed. To her credit, Moon remained able to find humor in some very unfamiliar situations. For example, in one episode, which she related, another person, like I had not at first, had not realized that she was not a biological female until quite later on in their acquaintance.
Upon seeing the image I had drawn, Moon cried. She told me that it was remarkable to see herself portrayed on paper how she wished to be seen. She said she had a disconnect between her image in a mirror and how she imagined herself in her mind, but the drawing bridged that gap.
Moon organizes events for people of color and the trans community in New York and runs a Clubhouse chat room. You can find her on: https://wwww.clubhouse.com/@iamkingmoon or https://www.instagram.com/mrcaba.co/ .
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