{Andrea, 15/9/24}

Back in February I had a plaster cast taken of my face to form part of the installation for the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square. This art form consists of 850 such casts of trans and non-binary people and is due to be unveiled on Wednesday morning - I shall be there, trains permitting.

Today I went back to the Queer Circle at the O2 in London to pick up the photograph taken on the day of the casting, this was, for artistic purposes, topless with us just holding the cast in front of us so you really do not see too much. I turned up at the venue and there must have been a couple hundred of trans and non binary people there - such a wonderful sight and I also met several friends and made some new ones.

I am insanely proud of the photo, it is something I am very pleased to have done and although my chest is largely concealed by the cast there is no doubt that I am a woman albeit one that needs to lose some weight (my choice not anyone else's). When I first transitioned I had a photo shoot done with a professional photographer and that had a similar empowering effect - it reminded me of the way that the women who took part in Gok Wan's How To Look Good Naked reported feeling - accepting your body and the beauty that is in everyone empowers you and makes you feel better about yourself.

I don't know if the photo would have too much flesh on display to be accepted here, but if it is OK I shall upload it.