‘I SEE YOU’

‘I SEE YOU’

VALERIE LOVE

‘I see you in your schools and workplaces, on the streets and in the world. Your existence brings joy to my world.’

This comic was created by queer trans illustrator and comic artist Sam Orchard as part of his Rooster Tails online comic series. Orchard began this autobiographical comic in 2010 at the age of 25 to chronicle his life and experiences as a trans man and transitioning in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Transgender Awareness Week is held in November each year to raise visibility around transgender people and the issues that members of the community face. The comic begins with Orchard addressing the transgender community directly, thanking them for being themselves, and acknowledging the complexities around how trans and gender diverse individuals are perceived. Standing in front of the rainbow street crossing at the intersection of Cuba and Dixon Streets, Orchard says, ‘Sometimes your gender is not seen or understood, other times it’s unable to be ignored. Whatever the case: I see you. I see you in our schools and workplaces, on the streets, and in the world. Your existence brings joy to my world. Thank you.’

The comic also acknowledges the rich LGBTQI+ history in Aotearoa, including a sign for the Evergreen Coffee House, run by ‘Queen of Wellington’ Chrissy Witoko from 1984 to 1998, as well as a poster with an image of Carmen Rupe (see page 186), reading ‘Carmen for Mayor’, and trans flags with slogans such as ‘trans rights now’ and ‘waitlists are painful’ in front of the Beehive building at Parliament. In addition, the comic references the Takatāpui TV series, which aired from 2004 to 2008 on Māori Television, and several reports about transgender and gender diverse experience in Aotearoa New Zealand: the 2007 Human Rights Commission report To Be Who I Am, the 2019 Transgender Health Research Lab community report Counting Ourselves, and a 2018 poster from Gender Minorities Aotearoa that says ‘Indigenous genders are real’.

The final scenes of the comic speak to those who are not yet ready or able to be fully themselves, as well as to the transgender community, past, present and future:

I see you too. You’re important, and loved, and I wish the world was an easier place to be yourself. I see you. And I want you to know that we’re here in the quiet places, ready for you in whatever way you’re able to be. Thank you. To the ones that came before, and the many that will come after… I see you too, and I thank you for all that you are, and will be.

DESCRIPTION Trans Week of Awareness, Rooster Tails comic strip, 17 November 2020

MAKER / ARTIST Sam Orchard (b. 1984)

REFERENCE Digital comics created for the Rooster Tails website (ATL-Group-00437: DCDL-0040197)

The Rooster Tails comic series chronicles Sam Orchard’s life as a trans man and addresses the transgender community directly.