The way I see it

Photos I take, words I live by

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EXHIBIT ANNOUNCEMENT: Excited to share that my project Divine Identity is currently on exhibit at the Photoville Festival in New York City throughout the rest of June and potentially thru mid-September.

What: Divine Identity outdoor exhibit at Photoville Where: Corporal John A. Seravalli Playground 17 Horatio St, New York, NY 10014 When: June 7 thru mid-September The main Photoville location at Brooklyn Bridge Park is on view through this weekend, June 22, 2025. But my exhibit has the potential to stay up through mid-September, although the exact end date is not set in stone. 🏳️‍🌈

Inspired by other artists’ images of modern day saints and references to traditional religious iconography, Divine Identity celebrates the sacredness of queer folks of faith by transforming their portraits into icons. 🏳️‍🌈 Check out more of the project here. If you are interested in buying a print through my website, 8"x12" photo prints are available for $50 each. 10% of proceeds from print sales will be donated to Thrive Youth Center, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit providing housing support to unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in Texas.  🏳️‍🌈

SPECIAL THANKS TO: -Photoville for selecting my work and making the exhibit happen -The International Women’s Media Foundation’s Lauren Brown Fellowship for supporting this reporting -Skyler Reid for encouraging me to submit my project -Jo E. Norris for taking some photos of the exhibit -And all the participants for sharing their stories

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My short film "Chosen Family" following Wes “Byeeeeee Yonic” Haack and the BAD roller derby team is screening at the 2024 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival this week! 

📍It will be showing during Program 2 - Documentaries on Thursday Nov 14, at 7pm at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. 

🎟️ Tickets are $0-$50, sliding scale/donation-based: https://sftff2024.eventive.org/schedule

🗓️ In person screenings will be Wednesday Nov. 13- Saturday Nov. 16. 

I’ll be attending Wednesday and Thursday's screenings if you want to join me!

The film was created for The San Francisco Chronicle along with Guy Wathen.

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Some professional news: I joined the @SFChronicle this August as their new @Hearst Photo Fellow! So excited and honored to join this wonderful photo staff for the next year. And I’m especially grateful for all my mentors, editors, friends, and family for supporting and nurturing my growth as a freelance photographer the last few years! #SalguFiles #NewJob #HearstFellowship #SFChronicle (at San Francisco Chronicle) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiGWad7v7CT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Had a great time at #AAJA22. Feeing so nurtured from spending quality time with my #AAJAfamily. My favorite part was speaking on the Queer(ing)Journalism panel with @dinoray @jessskung and @bokchoy_baobei! What an affirming panel to be a part of. Thank you Jireh Deng for moderating and inviting us all to be a part of this important and heartfelt queer Asian conversation. https://www.instagram.com/p/CgvDgepvOma/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Honored to receive the AAJA Emerging Journalist of the Year award at #AAJA22! Thank you @aajaofficial! 📸: @yichin.lee https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgi7p4TOyel/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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This is the last week to see my exhibit at @viewpoint_photo_artcenter! If you haven’t stopped by yet you can still check it out this Friday 7/1 and Saturday 7/2 during gallery hours 12-5pm at 2015 J Street in Sacramento. If you come through feel free to leave a note or reflection in the notebook! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the artist reception or came to see the show so far! If you aren’t able to come in person you can still support the project by purchasing a print via the gallery website (link in bio). 8x10s are $60 and 16x20s are $350. 10% of print sale proceeds will be donated to the @transqueeryouthcollective a local trans-led non profit support trans and queer youth in Sacramento. Hope you can stop by! #DocumentingDysphoria #genderdysphoria #photoexhibit #sacramento (at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfdR-OLLnz7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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“Documenting Dysphoria” Photo Exhibit in Sacramento, CA during June

Come check out Salgu Wissmath’s solo exhibition “Documenting Dysphoria” at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center at 2015 J Street in Sacramento through the month of June! Meet the artist at the Artist Reception on Sunday, June 19, 2-5pm. (There will be artist talks and performances starting at 3pm.) You can also view the show during gallery hours: 12-5pm Wednesday- Saturday from June 8-July 2.

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Inspired by the artist’s own journey as a nonbinary person, Documenting Dysphoria is a series of illustrative portraits that explores what gender dysphoria feels. Documenting Dysphoria seeks to show the diversity of experiences around gender dysphoria and across the gender spectrum. These images are intended to affirm and offer visibility to the trans and nonbinary experience from a queer lens. In a time where trans rights are under attack by state legislation across the country, sharing nuanced and affirming stories of the trans community is more important than ever. Salgu Wissmath is a nonbinary photographer from Sacramento. If you would like to participate in this project, send them an email at [email protected]

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8x10 prints are $60 & 16x20 mounted prints are $350. Prints are available to purchase throughout June and July in-person or online through the gallery.  10% of proceeds from exhibit sales will be donated to the Trans & Queer Youth Collective, a local trans-led nonprofit supporting trans and queer youth in Sacramento.

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SPECIAL THANKS TO: -Josie Robo for graphic design -Wylo, pictured, for sharing his story -PhotoSource for making the prints for the show -Viewpoint Photographic Art Center for selecting and showcasing this show in their Step Up Gallery -The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. for providing funding -And all the participants for sharing their stories

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Recent portraits for the @nytimes for a story about how "Hate Crimes and Pandemic Lead More Asian Americans to Seek Therapy." Julian Sarafian said he had to convince his parents of the importance of therapy, but after a few months of getting help, he “hit a point where it’s looking a lot brighter than ever before.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This is such an important story in general, as well as to me personally. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to photograph these portraits and have the freedom from my editor to be creative with some moody lighting. I myself have lived with depression on and off through out my life and have found therapy and medication (and taking moody self portraits) to be very helpful in my own journey with managing mental health. I know it can be super stigmatized in our society, and especially among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to talk about our own mental health struggles and seek therapy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This assignment was also a nice extension to the video project about the stigma around mental illness in AAPI communities I got to work on for my 2018 @AAJAVoices project with @michelleehanks and @tseringbista. I'm glad the conversation is slowly becoming more open on this topic. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you are considering trying therapy and are on the fence, I encourage you to give it a try. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Story by @alyssalukpat. Thanks @davidpollerphotos for the assignment! Link in bio to read the full story. (Photos ©SalguWissmath for @nytimes) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #AsianAmerican #AAPI #MentalHealth #therapy #EndTheStigma #WhatYouDontSee #DocumentingDepression https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOrcwFPIS7/?utm_medium=tumblr

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More recall election coverage for @sfchronicle | Dan Seoane, a Kevin Kiley supporter and recall supporter, at an election night party at Olivers Brewhouse & Grill in Lincoln, Calif. on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. Dan Seoane was #2 on the original petition for the California Recall Election against Governor Gavin Newsom. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (Photos ©SalguWissmath for @sfchronicle) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #California #RecallElection (at Lincoln, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT2rKsfvnEU/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Photographed @gavinnewsom on election night for The @sfchronicle | California Governor Gavin Newsom during a media availability following special election results at the California Democratic Party Headquarters in Sacramento, Calif., on Tues., Sept. 14, 2021. California Governor Gavin Newsom defeated the recall effort on Tuesday in only the second gubernatorial recall election in state history. ------ "In a speech, Newsom said, “No is not the only thing that was expressed tonight. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic.” Newsom also called for unity after a divisive election. “Everyone wants to feel safe. Everyone wants to feel respected. Those are universal values,” he said.⁣" ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Read more at the link in bio. ------- Story by Alexei Koseff. Thanks @philipapacheco for the assignment! (Photos ©SalguWissmath for @sfchronicle) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #California #RecallElection #GavinNewsom (at Sacramento, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT2ZCxKvsDI/?utm_medium=tumblr

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For the @nytimes: Dr. Cristina Davis is an engineer at the University of California, Davis who is currently conducting research on disease-detecting breathalyzers and developing a prototype of a breathalyzer that could detect Covid-19. “Scientists have long been interested in creating portable devices that can quickly and painlessly screen a person for disease simply by taking a whiff of their breath. But delivering on this dream has proved to be a challenge. Different diseases may cause similar breath changes. Diet can affect the chemicals someone exhales, as can smoking and alcohol consumption, potentially complicating disease detection. Still, scientists say, advances in sensor technology and machine learning, combined with new research and investment spurred by the pandemic, mean that the moment for disease-detecting breathalyzers may have finally arrived.” Photos 1-3: Dr. Cristina Davis in the Bioinstrumentation and BioMEMS Laboratory at UC Davis. Photo 4: A breath extractor device which extracts breath samples and stores them in a cartridge that can be safely taken to the lab for analysis. A key part of their current research, these samples are being tested to measure what chemicals patients with Covid-19 have in their breath samples. Photo 5: An exhale breath condensate collector. With this device they hope to find biomarkers to help doctors predict which Covid-19 patients are most likely to become severely ill. Photo 6: A chip from a breathalyzer prototype Dr. Davis and her team are currently developing that could detect Covid-19. Story by Emily Anthes. Thanks @mcmarbled for the assignment! (Photos ©SalguWissmath for @nytimes) #covid19 #breathalyzer https://www.instagram.com/p/CRPiRiULyrC/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Cassandra Quinto-Collins, left, and Robert Collins, right, hold a photo of their son Angelo Quinto in his bedroom on Mother’s Day, in Antioch, CA. Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Filipino Navy veteran, was killed by an Antioch police officer in December 2020 after police kneeled on his neck for several minutes in his home. Angelo Quinto is one of hundreds of other men and women of color who lost their lives as a result of interactions with police in the 12 months since George Floyd’s death triggered a social justice movement targeting police reform and systemic racism. While many Americans shouted Floyd's name in the wake of his killing, fewer know the names of those who have died since. But by sharing stories of outrage, grief and even joy when remembering those who died, four families that spoke with USA TODAY said they hoped bringing greater visibility to their cases might reform a police system that disproportionately harms people of color. In every case, family members say their loved ones did not deserve to die. They vow to pursue accountability so that others can be spared the same fate. “We are Angelo’s voice now, and we will fight to get justice. He didn’t need to die,” said his mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, 52, who is an immigrant from the Philippines. “We do this so other families won’t go through what we are. No more, no more, no more.” The Quinto-Collins family are helping push for local reforms to ensure that what happened to their son is not repeated. In March, Antioch’s City Council approved a $1.4 million expenditure to purchase body and in-car cameras for local police, who were among the only officers in the Bay Area still without such devices. Mayor Lamar Thorpe has also proposed the deployment of two-person mental health response teams instead of police officers. “When you look at what happened to George Floyd and later to Angelo, you think, this cannot happen in our nation. It has to be corrected,” said Robert Collins, 52, Quinto's stepfather. Story by Marco della Cava. Photo editing by @emljohnson. Link in bio to read the full story. (Photos ©Salgu Wissmath for @usatoday) (at Antioch, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPUPlTHLFUP/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Recent work for @theintercept. Spent some time in Chico for a story about climate change, The Green New Deal, the need for more affordable housing, and how that all impacts unhoused wildfire survivors in Chico, CA. Check out the full story at the link in my bio with words by Naomi Klein and photo editing from @EliseSwain. “Mark Stemen, a Chico State geography professor, stresses that Chico’s current divisions are the result of overlapping system failures: the failure to treat climate change as a true crisis and radically lower emissions accordingly, and the failure to support communities like Chico that are on the front lines of climate crisis-induced migration. ‘We can’t harden our hearts to combat compassion fatigue. How do we increase our community’s compassion stamina?’ he said. Compassion stamina. That’s a helpful way of thinking about the goal of public policy in our era of serial shocks. What that would mean for starters, Stemen said, is major investments in affordable housing, as well as in mental health to cope with the trauma of more frequent disasters. He also said there needs to be reliable financing for the kind of mutual aid efforts that tend to burn bright during the peak of a crisis and then burn out, in part because they are under-resourced. Addison Winslow, who was a part of Chico’s mutual aid organizing after the Camp Fire and has been working closely with the city’s unsheltered community, told me that it all comes down to building out more affordable housing of all kinds, fast — public, non-market, apartments, tiny homes — while removing the many zoning and regulatory barriers that favor single-family homes over multi-unit structures. Right now, he said, ‘We aren’t preparing cities to take in the people that we will need to, given the fact that climate change is already pushing people around.’ That’s a warning that extends far beyond Chico. Figuring out how to absorb sudden influxes of new neighbors with decency and hospitality — whether they are fleeing hurricanes in Honduras or fires in Paradise — is a central challenge of our age.” (Captions in comment) https://www.instagram.com/p/COy2GbgLFOi/?igshid=qzu0wzozatzv

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Recent work for @theintercept. Spent some time in Chico for a story about climate change, The Green New Deal, the need for more affordable housing, and how that all impacts unhoused wildfire survivors in Chico, CA. “In April, Chico’s anti-homelessness sweeps drew a harsh rebuke from a federal judge, who accused the city of willfully violating the law by flouting its legal obligation to provide viable shelter alternatives to its unhoused residents. Even in California, where the lack of affordable housing has reached epidemic levels in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Chico — an outdoorsy college town — stands out for the ruthlessness with which its city government and police have turned on unhoused residents. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California recently condemned the city for failing ‘to address the needs of its unhoused population while simultaneously passing ordinances that criminalize everyday behavior unhoused people undertake to survive.’ Adding a dystopian layer to this story: According to a survey by the Butte Countywide Homeless Continuum of Care, about a quarter of Chico’s unsheltered residents lost their homes in the 2018 Camp Fire which burned the neighboring town of Paradise to the ground, taking the lives of 85 people. For this reason, Chico’s war on the unhoused may be providing a grim glimpse into an eco-authoritarian future, in which the poor victims of climate change-fueled disasters are treated like human refuse by those whose wealth has protected them, at least in the short term, from the worst impacts of planetary warming.” 1, 2) Tona Petersen, who was displaced from Paradise due to the Camp Fire, poses for a portrait at the Comanche Creek Greenway in Chico, Calif. 3) Tona Petersen’s tent is seen at the Comanche Creek Greenway in Chico. 4) The Comanche Creek Greenway is the site of an unhoused community where Chico residents are currently safe from sweeps by local police, thanks to a temporary injunction preventing police from evicting those currently living at the park. Check out the full story at the link in my bio. Words by Naomi Klein and photo editing from @EliseSwain. #climatechange #climatejustice #ChicoCA https://www.instagram.com/p/COwKgswLveN/?igshid=enkgoyyaa8hw

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Mira (she/her/hers) Documenting Dysphoria I’m a binary transgender woman. So for me, there’s the social dysphoria and the body dysphoria. Those are really the two components. I’ve noticed, at least in my experience, that one or the other is stronger in different people. For me, it means that mixture of not only not being able to live as your gender in the world, which is the social aspect, but also just that basic dis-congruence with your body itself. What are some situations where you feel gender dysphoria? It’s usually when something suddenly reminds me that I’m trans, or somebody particularly reminds me of that. Like when I’ll suddenly get excluded in a conversation in a certain way. This is the example of an environment inducing [gender dysphoria] for you. You’re at a job and suddenly people start treating you differently because they find out you’re trans. I finally got this one teaching job. I could tell he didn’t know until after I’d already taken the job because he needed to hire somebody really quick because they lost a teacher right before the semester started. So he got the background check back after it already started. And then he’s all, “Well I don’t care as long as you teach.” But he wasn’t very friendly about it. Then he probably told somebody or somebody found out or they just figured it out. Then all of a sudden my coworkers are treating me very differently and they’re very cold and evasive and somewhat hostile. And then all of a sudden the parents found out and then even the kids wouldn’t respect me because if neither the other teachers nor the parents are, they just don’t feel obligated to. So it just made teaching there a nightmare. I was going there everyday trembling. And then I would go there and then halfway through the day I’ve locked the door for lunch and I’m crying in my classroom and I just finally quit. There was one day when I just said, “This is my last day here.” I didn’t even give them two weeks notice. I couldn’t stay. —— Sharing some photos published in honor of #TransDayofVisibility in @thecut from my ongoing project “Documenting Dysphoria” exploring what gender dysphoria feels like. (Continued in comments ⬇️) https://www.instagram.com/p/COWa7lrLLRE/?igshid=ycupvgt1fg3k

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Candice (she/her/hers) Documenting Dysphoria Everyone knows that the bathroom issue has been really big with the community right now. A while back, my church does this thing where they provide food for the less fortunate. I literally got persecuted, yelled at by a group that just got done eating, seeing me come out of the women’s restroom. How would you describe what gender dysphoria is? When a person realizes who they truly are, every time they see that their outside does not match, it saddens their heart. Have you ever gone to the drive through and you order a soda and when you look inside it’s something else— and you’re depressed? That’s kind of the way it is. What do you hope people come to understand from this project? This is who we are. What is so wrong about accepting people for how they want to live their life? —— Sharing some photos published in honor of #TransDayofVisibility in @thecut from my ongoing project “Documenting Dysphoria” exploring what gender dysphoria feels like. Gender dysphoria can be described as the distress a person experiences as a result of the disconnect between their internal gender identity and the sex/gender they were assigned at birth. The feeling is different for everyone and there is no one trans narrative. For many, but not all, trans people, it is this experience which often allows them to come to understand their own identity. Despite the importance of this experience, gender dysphoria is sorely misunderstood by society. These portraits share a glimpse of when and how some trans and nonbinary individuals experience the feeling. #genderdysphoria #trans #transgender #nonbinary #lgbtq #DocumentingDysphoria https://www.instagram.com/p/COTyPJpL-WT/?igshid=h28ec2txl22w

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Britt (they/them/theirs) Documenting Dysphoria I am a gender queer, non-binary, trans person assigned female at birth. I claim trans because I’m not cis. I am non-binary in that I don’t identify [with] a gender on either end of the spectrum of gender and actually [don’t even believe] in gender as a binary spectrum, but more of a constellation. What are some different situations where you have felt gender dysphoria? I find myself tensing up when I’m in crowds where I know, or anticipate, I will either be mis-gendered, or people from my past will use my birth name, and that there will be an environment where I am referred to as ‘the daughter,’ or complimented on things that I perceive in feminine ways. I think some of that is just existing in space with people who don’t see me as who I am. Everyone at my job knows my identities. I’ve shared it with my family. My friends know. And still it happens: people don’t see you. And that tension just heightens. I think no matter what I do, people don’t see me as trans, or they don’t see me as gender queer, and that just heightens however I feel my body in that moment. But nothing feels good. What words or feelings would you use to describe gender dysphoria? It’s like a slow drill or like a dull vibration that’s always there. It’s that ever present kind of dull refrigerator hum that I never bothered to investigate and was just told, “Well yeah, the refrigerator hum. That’s just a sound you’re used to.” I absolutely have moments of gender euphoria where I don’t hear the hum. What do you hope people who view this project might learn from it? I hope that someone is curious, in a non-exploitative way, and that their wheels keep moving around this idea that gender is a fucking construct. I would even imagine on some level someone else feels seen or heard or affirmed. —— Sharing some photos published in honor of #TransDayofVisibility in @thecut from my ongoing project “Documenting Dysphoria” exploring what gender dysphoria feels like. (Continued in comments ⬇️) https://www.instagram.com/p/COPC0JsraUs/?igshid=nunuol1u9v9d