Miguel Angel and friend Serena

Kike Arnal’s new book sets out to give the Argentinian trans community a voice with individual stories told and family lives documented – from a single mother to a tattoo artist to a nurse. Revealing Selves: Transgender Portraits from Argentina is published by The New Press. All photographs: Kike Arnal

Emmanuel Fernandez

‘Trans people have been denied the right to their own name and identity. They have been prevented from expressing themselves as they are,’ writes Josefina Fernandez in the books preface

Emmanuel and Tamara

Fernandez continues: ‘This has driven a struggle that, with varying levels of intensity, continues in Argentina.’

Lunchtime at El Gondolín

Once a family run hotel in central Buenos Aires, El Gondolín is now a self-managed squat and a crucial refuge for trans women

Residents at El Gondolín

Between 30 and 50 trans women – most under the age of 30 – live here because they lack the income necessary to rent a hotel room or a private residence

Rihanna Rios at El Gondolín

Many of the women here are teenagers, kicked out of their homes. The more senior leaders assign cleaning and cooking tasks, and everyone pays a small fee for utilities such as electricity and cooking gas

Serena Sofia Alarcon Rinesi

Serena transitioned at 25. While people in her conservative hometown made it difficult for her family to accept her sexual orientation, she and her parents now have a close relationship

Florencia and Alejandro

Florencia is a trans woman and activist, president of the Asociación de Lucha por la Identidad Travesti y Transexual (Association for the Struggle of Transvestite and Transexual Identity). Her husband, Alejandro, is a Falklands war veteran

Cinthia and her daughters

Around 60% of trans women drop out of school at a young age and struggle to survive. With the encouragement of her daughters, Cinthia – who got her high-school diploma aged 50 – represents hope that things are changing for trans people in Argentina

The March of Remembrance

‘These images show us the everyday lives of people who, for many years, have been fighting for the right to their own name, to be who they are,’ writes Josefina Fernandez