With the exhibition Trans Identities: From Argentina to the Balkans, we present two approaches to personal stories and archives of individuals whose identities are often overlooked or underrepresented in public discourse. The Archivo de la Memoria Trans from Buenos Aires brings together archival materials (photographs, letters, personal documents, etc.) presented across 13 categories, while the Zagreb exhibition features a selection of 70 exhibits covering all categories. On the other hand, Trans Balkan also gathers personal stories of trans individuals, but represents them visually through professional portraits accompanied by texts written by the portrayed subjects, combining the photographer’s craft with personal narratives.
The exhibition is open from May 26 to June 7, 2026, at the Zagreb City Museum.
Archivo de la Mermoria Trans
The Trans Memory Archive (AMT) is a space dedicated to the protection, construction, and reclamation of trans memory. It was envisioned by trans activists María Belén Correa and Claudia Pía Baudracco as a place to bring together survivors, their memories, and their images. Today, the archive holds more than 15,000 documents spanning from the early 20th century to the late 1990s, including photographs, films, audio recordings, journalistic material, as well as items like national ID cards, passports, letters, notes, police files, magazine articles, and personal diaries. The AMT’s mission is to collect and preserve a documentary record of the life histories of Argentina’s trans community. Its vision is to become a leading resource for trans documentary research and a center for collective memory. Guided by a policy of combating transphobia, the Archive works to promote educational development, social and professional inclusion of trans people, and the denunciation of all forms of institutional and social transphobia.
Ornella “Teté” Vega is originally from Santa Fe, Argentina. She currently lives in Tigre, in the Province of Buenos Aires. She works at the Hospital de Pacheco and is an activist for the rights of trans and travesti people. She joined the team of the Archivo de la Memoria Trans in 2018, working in the conservation area. She has also participated in public talks, book presentations, and cultural activities related to trans memory and the work of the archive.
Belén Eva Carlocchia (María Belén Correa) is an Argentine transgender activist and co-founder of the organization Archivo de la Memoria Trans. Her work focuses on preserving the history, photographs, and testimonies of transgender people in Argentina and Latin America. Through activism and archival work, she has helped bring visibility to the struggles, resilience, and cultural contributions of trans communities.
Trans Balkan
Trans Balkan is a documentary photography project by Aleksandar Crnogorac that, through a traveling exhibition, seeks to draw attention to the trans community in the Balkan region of Southeast Europe. The author traveled across the entire Balkan Peninsula, from Slovenia to Turkey, to meet, interview, and photograph more than 100 trans individuals from 13 different countries, representing diverse religious and social backgrounds, levels of education, and, most importantly, different stages of their personal transitions. The aim of the project is to increase the visibility of the trans community in the Balkans and to foster a deeper understanding of this often underrepresented minority among the wider public. By focusing on the personal aspects of participants’ experiences, the Trans Balkan exhibition invites audiences to encounter the trans community within their own region and contributes to raising awareness about the difficult conditions and realities faced by trans people in the Balkans.
Aleksandar Crnogorac was born 1979 in Vienna. He spent his childhood days in Switzerland and studied further in USA at the University of Southern California, as well as King’s College in London where he obtained a degree in political science. He specialized in photography at SPEOS in Paris. During many years of working in the medium of photography he has developed a significant ouvre in commercial, portrait and fashion photography. Photography represents an extension and material trace of his interests and skills which he obtained and is still obtaining during his many travels. His photo-essays reflect a person who is in love with life and its diversity, with a special focus on minorities and its destinies. He undertakes long-term authorial documentary projects based in various cultural and political structures, where he finds a common theme he follows through an extended time period. He lives in Belgrade.
