joana toro

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER

joanatoro.com

Dressing Room

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Clients: The New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Roads and Kingdoms, Atlas Oscura, MIT Techonology Review

A drag is getting ready to perf...ns gay parade celebration. 2015

A drag is getting ready to perform in front of the crow in Queens gay parade celebration. 2015

Drag woman is performing in a g...n Jackson Heights, Queens. 2015

Drag woman is performing in a gay club in Jackson Heights, Queens. 2015

Linda Carolina Dominguez, 41 ye... Heights, Queens,New York. 2015

Linda Carolina Dominguez, 41 years old, is getting ready to perform in a local culb in Jackson Heights, Queens,New York. 2015

Detail into the dressing room a...n Jackson Heights ,Queens. 2015

Detail into the dressing room at local gay Club in Jackson Heights ,Queens. 2015

Drag portrait in Jackson Heights, Queens. 2016

Drag portrait in Jackson Heights, Queens. 2015

Drag woman is performing in a gay club in Jackson Heights, Queens. 2015

Drag woman is performing in a g...n Jackson Heights, Queens. 2016

Drag woman is performing in a gay club in Jackson Heights, Queens. 2016

Laura Martinez's presen...es,” Laura said. 2015

Laura Martinez's presentation at a local LGBTQ club in Jackson Heights, Queens New York.
She is a famous Drag performance into the Latin LGTB community she has been working in the
entertainment business for more than 11 years, she is followed by many emerging drags and transgender people that want to be like her. Laura takes under her wing more than 40 Latina transgender woman that receives her last name, Martinez, as a symbol of being into her family. "Many trans teens commit suicide or take drugs, or alcohol because of the lack of support of their original families,” Laura said. 2015

Sharon Guerra participant in Mi...main door of the gay club. 2015

Sharon Guerra participant in Miss Latinos D local beauty contest is helped at the main door of the gay club. 2015

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Public Project

Dressing Room

Copyright joana toro 2025

Updated Aug 2019

Location Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, US

Topics Beauty, Black and White, Civil Rights, Community, Discrimination, Editorial, Emotion, Family, Feminism, Freedom, Gay, Gay Rights, Health/Healing, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Immigration, Latin America, Lesbian, Love, Minority, Photography, Photojournalism, Poverty, Prostitution, Racism, Sexuality, Transgender

I have long been interested in themes of migration and identity, and the transgender Latina community in Jackson Heights, Queens, embodies these challenges with striking clarity. The Dressing Room documents the backstage spaces of local LGBTQ+ clubs, where, after dark, hardship gives way to transformation. Participants and audiences—undocumented immigrants, second-generation women, citizens, and those with temporary protections—share mirrors, makeup, and stories. Many have fled violence in South America; others navigate the lasting impacts of racism, poverty, and legal precarity in the U.S. In these intimate spaces, hardship dissolves into sequins, laughter, and ritual. The night becomes a realm of possibility, where identity is not hidden but exalted. TransLatinas celebrates resilience, beauty, and the power of chosen family in New York City’s nocturnal landscape

This project was published for first time at the New York Times

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joana toro

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