CPOY

Award of Excellence: (re)Becoming Mohagany

Mohagany Foster was released from New Hanover Correctional Center in Wilmington, N.C. on November 8, 2022 after a year-long sentence. As a trans woman, the county housed her in a men’s facility against her wishes. Finally released, Mohagany is now working toward reclaiming her female identity in the real world. She first found housing in northern Durham through the LGBTQ+ Center until they decided they couldn't support her anymore. Without the Center, she now lives in a hotel and has a part-time job with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center as a response caller. However, with an inconsistent paycheck, she works to scrape together her room fee every single day, always unsure if she'll have to resume life on the streets.

Caption
Slide 11 of 12
11
March 31, 2023

Mohagany applies her eyebrow makeup in the mirror. Though she doesn’t have many possessions anymore, feminine things as simple as pink wigs and little eyebrow pencils help her hold onto the femininity she wasn’t allowed to have while imprisoned in a men’s facility a few months prior. While everything else is being taken from her, she works hard to ensure her femininity is something she can keep.

Location
    48542d42-2b9e-4021-992e-1c1b23e1f2bb
    9824e7ab-959b-4116-ab98-8d3d482fe47a
    See more at cpoy.org