NO SPOONS OUT HERE, Justine Langille
This is a series of colour Polaroid photographic self-portraits of a transgender woman in the early stages of gender transition.
Title: NO SPOONS OUT HERE
Artist: Justine Langille
Date: 2025
Medium/Materials: Polaroid 600 Film, ink on paper
Dimensions: 8.8 cm x 10.7 cm
Form/Genre: Photograph series
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Transgender; Self-portrait; Patient narrative
Artist Statement:
Since Justine Langille was a child, every wish they made was a faint hope that they could become a woman, by magic or in their next life.
In 2023, Langille emerged from lifelong dysphoria to contest these impossibilities, coming out as a queer, transgender person at age 42. Unable to envision a safe transition in the growing presence of local far-right politics in London, Ontario, they got a job in British Columbia and moved to a small laneway apartment above a garage in Surrey, prone to blazing orange sunsets. Over the next two years, hormone replacement therapy, new bodily practices, and online connections enabled the first phases of their gender transition. They grew their hair, gathered new clothes and their intentions.
NO SPOONS OUT HERE (2025) is a series of Polaroid photographs documenting Langille’s solitary pursuit of their mid-life gender transition near the border of Surrey and Langley in suburban British Columbia.
Inspired by contemporary photographic trans biographies (Zachary Drucker’s Relationship, Jess Duggan’s To Survive on This Shore) this work realizes a dream brought to life. Employing exhaustive self-portraiture strategies, fragments of street photography and drawing, these images are records of the perpetual affective labour of self required to actualize a transgender identity at mid-life in Canada today. These photographs also reflect the intricate, careful social navigation of trans existence required where the queer sanctuaries of Metro Vancouver meet deeply practiced Fraser Valley social conservatism contesting transgender legitimacy today. Supported by Canada Council for the Arts.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
These photographic self-portraits were created during the first two years of Langille’s gender transition, which they pursued alone in the suburbs of Surrey, BC. During this period, they were simultaneously undertaking medical transition through HRT and surgery planning, as well as elements of Langille’s social transition through beginning to present as a woman at work. This was also a significant period of healing from years of traumatic dysphoria, depression and anxiety.
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.
Learn More:
Instagram: @justinelangille