In Between Gallery
Seventh Day (2024) by Africa Barrero-Alexander
In Seventh Day (2024), Africa Barrero-Alexander presents a deeply personal exploration of identity, transformation, and self-discovery through photographic self-portraiture. Part of his ongoing series This Body Was Carved from Stone, the work reflects on his experience as a transgender man, examining the profound impact this journey has had on his life and relationships.
This Body Was Carved from Stone delves into both the challenges and the triumphs of his transition: from the difficulties of navigating childhood and puberty, to the joy of discovering and defining his own identity. Through this work, he not only creates a visual record of his personal experience but also aims to challenge and reshape public perceptions of trans people.
Africa Barrero-Alexander is the winner of the Peckham 24 x Photo Fringe Open Call, a platform dedicated to showcasing innovative, boundary-pushing contemporary photography. Peckham 24 is known for bringing together artists, curators, and galleries to highlight groundbreaking photographic work.
About The Artist
Africa Barrero-Alexander is a Bristol-based photographer who recently graduated from The University of the West of England with a BA in Photography. His personal work centers around the relationship between humanity and the land, the nature of the human condition, and the beauty of the mundane. He is particularly interested in photography’s potential as a therapeutic tool, using it to reshape narratives and re-contextualize past events and traumas. For Africa, photography goes beyond the mechanical act of pressing the shutter—it is also a reflective, healing process and a non-verbal dialogue between the photographer and the viewer.
“I started this project in private to create a visual record of my medical transition only for myself. Now, I aim to use my photography to instigate positive change in the public perspective of trans people: to show that behind the statistics and the inflammatory headlines there are real human beings with stories to tell. Through my photographic self-portraiture, I am carving a space for myself within a social landscape that tries to deny my existence, and in doing so portray a story that I hope others can connect to”
