Transvestites are not minorities, but others.

The Khabarovsk Regional Museum named after Grodekov hosted a presentation of the exhibition of photographs "Minorities" , which was brought to the city by the FotoDoc Center for Documentary Photography at the Sakharov Center. Employees of the regional museum, with the help of officials from the Ministry of Culture of the region, changed its name to “Others” and asked not to exhibit photographs with transvestites , exhibition organizer Alexander Sorin told PublicPost. The exhibition dedicated to minorities will last a month, then it will be taken to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Vladivostok.

What is the exhibition "Minorities"

The exhibition was created after a documentary photography competition of the same name, which accepted works in two categories. The first is ethnic, religious, political, sexual minorities. The second is photo research about social minorities: people with disabilities, children in boarding schools, the elderly.

Alexander Sorin, organizer of the exhibition "Minorities":

“Khabarovsk is the first city in which the head of the social service, children's ombudsman Svetlana Zhukova came to our exhibition. She spoke at the opening and said touching words about people who survive in unbearable conditions. The opening went very well and friendly.

The brewing scandal did not happen. No one took photographs with the transvestite, we did not post them. In the end they didn’t hang up 4 photos. It was predictable; at the museum, employees looked affectionately into the eyes and said: “Well, you understand, this is not necessary.” This was not a surprise to me. Before this, they were asked not to hang them in Novosibirsk and Volgograd. It is worth noting that when we exhibited “Minorities” in Krasnoyarsk, these 4 photographs with a transvestite were hung in a place of honor. Which works should be hung and which should not be determined in cities by officials of the local Ministry of Culture, as well as by those who piss their pants with the organization in the museum and will then answer to higher officials.

Many people have questions about why the exhibition is called “Others”; I constantly have to explain that the original name was “Minorities” and it was simply changed for unknown reasons to “Others”. Minorities are a specific concept; we had a competition of the same name and a specific exhibition. At some point I suggested, why not call the exhibition “Other versus Stranger”.

PublicPost has not yet been able to obtain a comment from the Ministry of Culture of the Khabarovsk Territory.