The book “Trans*Visit”, an artistic report by Swiss photographer Martin Bichsel, is due to be published by Kommode Verlag at the start of October 2014. The voice of Conchita Wurst echoes from speakers all over the world as the diva with a full beard and stunning voice wins the Eurovision Song Contest. Finally there is hope for more tolerance and respect for all genders and gender identities. But have Europeans actually become more tolerant? And what does a glance at the rest of the world reveal? Was the success of Conchita Wurst a sign that Europe, at least, is becoming more open, and that its people have more tolerance and respect for their neighbours? Or was the drag artist nothing more than a tokenistic media construct designed to boost the continent’s reputation? The answers to these questions can be found in places where the show business spotlight has gone out. Swiss photographer Martin Bichsel has been accompanying transgender people all over the world for nine years, and gathering together personal stories from Albania, Japan, Greece, Tunisia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Switzerland. Now, in October 2014, Kommode Verlag is publishing “Trans*Visit”, a book which combines photographic documentation with people’s personal stories. The photographer is not looking to criticise society with his book; instead he is trying to tackle a subject in a sensitive rather than voyeuristic way – a subject that remains steeped in taboos, even in a supposedly enlightened 21st-century Europe.weiterlesen