Treint Sanders

My name is Treint Sanders, and I am a black transman, self-taught photographer. I was born in Texarkana, Texas & raised on Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Northside. Poetry has always been a big part of my life as it was the only way I felt I could express my emotions. No matter the situation my poetry could always get me through. My freshman year of high school, I started to take an interest in photography and wanted to start capturing any and all moments; the good and the bad. In 2020, I launched TeeShot Photography (@TeeShot_Photography) a traveling photography business based out of San Antonio, Texas where I currently reside and have been making my dream into a reality.

My short film, Change was created to bring awareness to social injustices faced every day. Initially this was just written as a poem to express my pain and emotions towards the social injustices I myself and many other have faced however I decided to make this into a short film to make the messages more powerful. I feel like now is the time to use our voice and make sure we bring the change we want to see.

My written piece, Hey Black Child is inspired by Maya Angelou was written to uplift my black brothers and sisters especially the younger generations to come. We can do anything we put our minds to and I don’t want that to be forgotten or buried under the stereotypes that we are given. We are not what they want us to be but instead what we are destined to be.

The last and final piece I leave with you, I Once Knew A Girl is an emotional piece that was actually written about my transition as a transgender female to male. As a teen I suffered from serve depression and anxiety. I often felt as if I was alone and misunderstood which lead to many suicide attempts. I created this piece for The Marsha P. Johnson Fanclub’s (@Mpjfanclub) virtual poetry night. An event where all funds received were donated to The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, The Okra Project, and The National Queer & Trans Therapist of Color Network.