MARTINE PERRET Photography

  • Portfolio
  • Video
  • About
  • Contact
  • SHOP
Show Navigation
All Galleries
Download

Trans-Dili { 34 images } Created 8 Sep 2010

Working in the newly independent nation of East Timor, photographer Martine Perret documents a small community of men who believe they should have been born women. Suffering both constant discrimination from East Timor's majority Catholic society and the real fear of being ostracized by family and friends make it difficult for these individuals to truly live their lives in a way that feels natural to them. Despite the hardships, this trans-gendered minority does what it can to express themselves as women born into male bodies.
twitterlinkedinfacebook
View: 100 | All

Loading ()...

  • Melody on the red couch in her salon. Melody is Filipino, and has lived in East Timor since 2002. One of the reasons why she left the Philippines is her father never accepted her way of being and used to beat her up. She is 33 Years old and works in her beauty salon during the day and as a waiter at night. When she was living in both the Philippines and Malaysia she was able to dress up more often as a woman, but due to social pressures within East Timor, she can only do it at night during parties with like-minded or understanding friends. Her boyfriend of 8 months is a married man with 2 children who visits her on Sundays. Melody's dream is to have  gender reassignment surgery.
    Melody sitting in the red couch in h...jpg
  • Melody in front of mirror-1-3.jpg
  • Pepy gets dressed in her room in Comoro in a relative's house that welcomes her as she cannot go back to her father's place. At night she says she cries because she feels alone. She thinks at times she should just change back and live as a man, but this is impossible, as she has always felt deep down that she was a woman. Forced to leave home four years ago due to beatings from her father and brother, one of Pepy's dreams is to be reunited with her family and be accepted for who she is. Another is to live in a country that might offer Pepy the freedom to live as a woman and seek-out the treatment necessary to "have boobs and a vagina".
    Pepy in her home - Comoro-1-4.jpg
  • Melody and her boyfriend, after sex in her bedroom. Martine Perret
    Melody and her partner after sex at ...jpg
  • Melody in a private moment-1-4.jpg
  • Paul is 38 years old.  She lives in Dili. Although she dressed like a woman since an early age, she tried to keep this a secret from her family. When her brothers found out they would beat her, chase her and tell her she was bringing ridicule to the family. She never speaks about her sexuality to her mother. She felt she changed and became more feminine after her father died.  She believes she could never have the gender reassignment operation because she thinks her family would kill her. She feels unhappy because she cannot be herself, that it is not possible for her to live her life as a woman...Since 2003, Paul has been in a relationship with a policeman of the same age. Paul is the woman in the relationship. Her lover does not know that Paul likes to dress as a woman. She maintains her secrecy and only dresses up at private parties away from her neighborhood. She hears about countries like Iran where people like her would be killed. She has also heard that Australia is considered the ultimate place for the kind of freedom she dreams about.
    Paul in an abandoned house in Tasi T...jpg
  • Paul is standing in front of an abandoned house in Tasi Tolu. 25 October 2009. Photo by Martine Perret
    trio at taci tolu-311.jpg
  • Suzy is 52 years old and has always dressed like a girl. She has never been with a woman and has been in a sexual relationship with the same man for the past seven years. Suzy walks freely in Dili as a woman, and does not care about what people think. She has had the treatment to develop breasts and had a neck operation 25 years ago in Indonesia. She decided not to have the operation to remove her penis as she " would have had too much success with men wanting to try to have sex" with her. She has an arrangement with the local padre that allows her to live near the church. She runs a salon where she works as a hairdresser. She "does not have erections". Suzy "feels like a woman."
    Suzy in her bedroom at home-1-5.jpg
  • Tuta in Melody salon.jpg
  • Tuta applies make-up in her salon in Bidau (Dili). She mainly dresses as a woman when entertaining as part of a show. If she felt she had the choice she would dress as a woman everyday, but feels Dili is not quite ready for this. She is not angry with East Timorese society because she understands it is a new nation that still has some way to go before developing the understanding necessary to let her live his life as a woman. Unlike some of her friends, her family is more accepting of who she is and of the relationship she has with her boyfriend. If she had money she would get gender reassignment surgery that would turn her into a woman once and for all.
    tuta at tania salon-18-9.jpg
  • Peppi in Dili. 27 December 2012. Photo by Martine Perret
    Peppi.jpg
  • Nina shows her bra in Lydia's Salon in Dili. Photo by Martine Perret. 18 Octobre 2009
    Nina in Lydia's salon.jpg
  • Tuta and Abrao in Melody's salon in Dili. 1 October 2009
    Tuta and Abrao.jpg
  • Barbie at a fashion show in Dili.
    Barbie in a fashion show in a Dili b...jpg
  • Melody looks at herself in a mirror before an evening out. Melody is Filipino, and has lived in East Timor since 2002. One of the reasons why she left the Philippines is her father never accepted her way of being and used to beat her up. She is 33 Years old and works in her beauty salon during the day and as a waiter at night. When she was living in both the Philippines and Malaysia she was able to dress up more often as a woman, but due to social pressures within East Timor, she can only do it at night during parties with like-minded or understanding friends. Her boyfriend of 8 months is a married man with 2 children who visits her on Sundays. Melody's dream is to have  gender reassignment surgery. 27 december 2009.Martine Perret
    Melody in her salon.jpg
  • Melody, in her beauty salon in Dili, reflecting on her life and her options.
    Melody in reflective mood-1-12.jpg
  • Gerome, at a fashion show in Dili.
    Gerome in a fashion show in a Dili b...jpg
  • Melody at moolight in Dili. Melody is Filipino, and has lived in East Timor since 2002. One of the reasons why she left the Philippines is her father never accepted her way of being and used to beat her up. She is 33 Years old and works in her beauty salon during the day and as a waiter at night. When she was living in both the Philippines and Malaysia she was able to dress up more often as a woman, but due to social pressures within East Timor, she can only do it at night during parties with like-minded or understanding friends. Her boyfriend of 8 months is a married man with 2 children who visits her on Sundays. Melody's dream is to have  gender reassignment surgery. 8 Nov 2009 @ Martine Perret
    Melody at moonlight 26 july 2012-101.jpg
  • _57D9968-146-11.jpg
  • Adame, applying making up in Melody's salon in Dili. Adame has played with dolls since she was young and likes dressing as a woman. She has a girlfriend, always preferring the company of women. Generally her family accepts who she is, although sometimes her brothers express anger towards her. She is scared to have the operation that would make her physically a woman because of the horror stories she has heard of post-operative complications. Adame feels life for her was easier during the Indonesian occupation. During those times she felt she could walk freely at night and now she is worried about being discriminated against. She never wears skirts outside as she believes that people in Dili are not yet ready to accept this. One day she is hoping to have enough money to open her own hair salon.
    Adame in Melody salon-1-10.jpg
  • Tuta getting dressed for a fashion show. She usually only dresses as a woman when she is entertaining in a show. If she felt she had the choice she would dress as a woman everyday, but feels Dili is not quite ready for this. She is not angry with East Timorese society because she understands it is a new nation that still has some way to go before developing the understanding necessary to let her live his life as a woman.
    Tuta in her salon before a fashion s...jpg
  • Pepy, during a fashion show, in a Dili Bar for a post Christmas, Philippine party.
    Pepy in a Dili bar during a fashion ...jpg
  • Melody and her partner_57D1089-29-5.jpg
  • Pepy in her bedroom in Comoro-1-8.jpg
  • Private moment 2_57D1094-34-7.jpg
  • Melody applies make-up_57D9980-155-2.jpg
  • Melody puts on liptsick_57D9989-162-...jpg
  • sika salao fitri-20-3.jpg
  • Melody at moolight in Dili. Melody is Filipino, and has lived in East Timor since 2002. One of the reasons why she left the Philippines is her father never accepted her way of being and used to beat her up. She is 33 Years old and works in her beauty salon during the day and as a waiter at night. When she was living in both the Philippines and Malaysia she was able to dress up more often as a woman, but due to social pressures within East Timor, she can only do it at night during parties with like-minded or understanding friends. Her boyfriend of 8 months is a married man with 2 children who visits her on Sundays. Melody's dream is to have  gender reassignment surgery. 8 Nov 2009 @ Martine Perret
    Melody at moonlight 26 july 2012-87.jpg
  • Melody at moolight in Dili. Melody is Filipino, and has lived in East Timor since 2002. One of the reasons why she left the Philippines is her father never accepted her way of being and used to beat her up. She is 33 Years old and works in her beauty salon during the day and as a waiter at night. When she was living in both the Philippines and Malaysia she was able to dress up more often as a woman, but due to social pressures within East Timor, she can only do it at night during parties with like-minded or understanding friends. Her boyfriend of 8 months is a married man with 2 children who visits her on Sundays. Melody's dream is to have  gender reassignment surgery. 8 Nov 2009 @ Martine Perret
    Melody at moonlight 26 july 2012-24.jpg
  • Paul is standing in front of an abandoned house in Tasi Tolu. 25 October 2009. Photo by Martine Perret
    Paul is standing in front of an aban...jpg
  • Melody and Adame at a Dili beach for a fun shoot. 27 December 2012. Photo by Martine Perret
    Beach shoot.jpg
  • Peppi and Adame in Melody's salon. 27 December 2012. Photo by Martine Perret
    Peppi and Adame.jpg
  • Pepi chosses dresses to wear before an evening out in Melody's salon. Photo by Martine Perret. 27 Decembre 2009
    Peppi at Melody's-1.jpg