Mal (Malka) Svei

Hi all! 2022 photographs are now up [🔗 in bio] Thank you so much for all of the love and invaluable info i’ve already received; please keep spreading the word and reaching out if you can! [photograph by me • DC Dyke March 2022• 6/10/2022] For full transparency, there are a small number of photographs (about 5~10) out of the original set of images that i shared with the @dcdykemarch organizers that are not included here. some of them may be uploaded later pending consent from some of the individuals pictured - i did not feel it would be right for me to share those particular images without that for reasons i am not going to explain here. [* edit - they are now online with the consent of the relevant people :)] a few of the rest were images in which i already know everyone pictured and have already shared the photographs with them, so it is unnecessary. I also left out two or three images that had easily identifiable children (one masked, but still fairly recognizable; one unmasked) and which i did not have a record of explicit consent from their caregivers. So if you attended the march that year with a child, think i may have photographed you, and would like the image - feel free to reach out and we’ll figure out if i have any photographs of you! thank you all again, love you ❤️❤️❤️ #dyke #femme #butch #dykemarch #lgbtq #reproductiverights

Some questions you may have about my @dcdykemarch project! Q: Where will this information be going? A: For right now, in secure hard storage held by me. I may also share it with the @dcdykemarch team - so **please do not share any info you don’t want them to have ** I will NEVER willingly share with the P1gs or other surve11lance state entities. When i start thinking about publishing &/or archiving, i will update you about that. My plan is NOT to share any contact info - that part is strictly for me, so that i can reach out for consent and any additional info i need before publishing images. Q: Who the fuck are you Mal? A: You can checkout my portfolio [🔗 in bio] to find out. If you have a more specific question, i can try to answer it when i have time. Q: Why are you doing this? A: I believe that our history is important, and that it should be documented by and for us. As a genderqueer butch dyke, i personally owe so much to the work of our elders including @jebmedia @flashnine9 @dellagracevolcano @phyllischristopher @chloedsherman @donnaaceto @kristabeinstein @mrleonmost @tombianchi and so many more - including ancestors who are no longer with us like Tee Corrine, Tessa Boffin, and of course Loren Rex Cameron. The archive they have made and are making for us is a gift that i am eternally grateful for, and i want us to give the same gift to generations to come. I also love my community and how beautiful we are and i want us to be able to see that! scroll through the post for more Q & As ! [photograph by me @dcdykemarch 2023] #dyke #dykemarch #lesbian #queer #LGBTQ #butch #femme

** DC Dykes: i need your help!!** please read through and tag any @dcdykemarch organizers &/attendees you know! The request below was inspired by many generative conversations that i had over the past few days on Fire Island - with @ericapress.jpg , @donnaaceto , @flashnine9 who generously shared a few hours of her time, & of course @jebmedia extremely grateful to all involved - especially @jebmedia for bringing us together & @boffo_ny making this all possible. (results of group project coming soon…) [photograph by me @dcdykemarch 2024 • June 7, 2024 • Washington DC] I am working on organizing and identifying the people in my photographs of @dcdykemarch . I want my photographs to serve as a valuable document for our community, and this will make a big difference in that. I also know that not everyone is safe or comfortable being identified or having their image shared, and i want to respect that. I can’t do any of that on my own. So here’s what i am asking for: My photographs of the most recent marches (2023 -24) are accessible in a special gallery [see 🔗 in bio] I am working on something similar for 2022, but for now you can see at least some of those on my portfolio website [🔗in bio], and on instagram (i’ll be working on gathering them in stories highlights over the next few days so they are easier to access) If you have time, look through the photographs, & if you see yourself / someone you know, write down [with their consent OBVIOUSLY ] the following: - Name (love full names but first only is fine if that is more comfortable) - Pronouns - some information that specifies which photograph the person is in (file number or visual description) If possible, i would love to also have a reliable method of contact to reach out if & when i think about publishing some of these images. You can send me this information via instagram DM, or by email [contact in bio]. It’s going to be a big project and i may not respond to your messages right away - but i will be reading all of them eventually. If you can share this - esp with folks who aren’t on instagram- i am so grateful for that too. Love you all!!! #dyke #queer #lesbian #butch #femme #washingtondc

(Spring cleaning, but it’s my hard drive..) Weather is so weird, remember when it snowed down here and these poor southerners were all like “What IS this white stuff?” “When is it going to go away?” “Can we reopen schools if there’s still 2 inches on the ground??” Baltimore, MD • 2026 1-2: R in the snow storm (01/25/26) 3-4: Esther exploring a strange new climate , wi friends (01/27/26) 5-7: @rallejhu rally (02/03/26) ps: 6/7 photographs guaranteed to contain at least 1 trans person in case u were worried #trans #charmcity #queerliberation #workersrights

(TDOV sequal) IDC what you say, all butches are trans. (recent(ish) photographs. 07/25-01/26. Baltimore// DC //NYC) “trans” is not how i usually describe myself. I want our shared language to build community & larger political project - & “trans(gender)” has a mixed record. I am a transsexual person but wi my particular life experience & self presentation, “butch” tells you more about the communities i belong to & my historical & political situatedness. In general (& u really should read @gpjulesss insightful writing on this),“trans(gender)” in contemporary Liberal discourse flattens distinctions between diverse communities. In queer contexts, IMO, it often leaves community poorly defined & solidarity between communities vague & ungrounded. At its worst, “trans” is a concessionary permission structure, deflecting attention from urgent political demands to meaningless “representation”. It can abandon the most marginalized communities - eg transsexual women - to foreground the queer experiences most palatable & least threatening to the mainstream. I still believe in “trans(gender)” as a site of possibility though. The term may have been coined with reactionary intent (by heterosexual crossdressers), but it was also claimed by radical visionaries (Leslie Feinberg A”H, @susan_stryker ) as a place to build solidarity across difference. At its best, “trans(gender)” brings together the collective power of diverse communities united by shared gender deviance - while appreciating unique needs, experiences, cultures, and degrees of risk or access to privilege. When I say all butches are trans, I am saying that - as the historian @kitheyamwriter might point out- butchness is by definition a departure, a series of material changes away from the gender with which one was raised. Who cares whether non - transsexual butch lesbians share an “identity” with straight trans women. If there’s any value in visibility it’s this: in showing that in meaningful ways, our histories overlap & so do our futures. A butch can call herself cis all day but it won’t stop transphobes from harassing her in the women’s room. Solidarity will. #transdayofvisibility #trans #butch

6 months of various trans people doing trans things, in honor of Trans Day of Visibility - except they’re actually all just @konflagration (plus some supporting characters not guaranteed to be trans), because i realized that i’ve made at least one photograph of him for each of the last 6 months. So that’s it he’s all the trans people you’re getting. (but ok not really because i always like to post in threes + i have some Thoughts about Trans & Visibility so stay tuned) photographs: 2: Building the sukkah. 10/25 3: at the @bmoretransmasc bonfire. 11/25 4 (& 1): Chanukah. 12/25 5 - 6: New Year’s Eve. 01/26 7-8: @mdhistory.gay zine release. 02/26 9-11: Purim (also feat @reptileparty with @pocketsizedenby as gabbai). 03/26 #trans #queerliberation #transdayofvisibility

Work hard play harder JHUSOM Neuroscience Dept. Retreat Ashburn, VA • 09/08-09/2025 my advisor doesn’t follow me on instagram and what he doesn’t know (re the absolutely ridiculous photograph of him tucked into this post) won’t hurt him... he may not be much of a partier but some faculty go pretty hard. Anyway thanks to HHMI for using some of that sweet sweet oil money on us, and thanks to all my colleagues (& union comrades) for making the whole PhD thing survivable. #science

@molly_izer & @lana.aguon in animated conversation @alohodc Washington DC • 09/06/25 #queerliberation #freedc #deaf #dykes

meant to do this during June but fortunately i’m still gay so: a random selection of queer people & places, 07/2024 - 07/2025🤓 1: Kay & Shayna. Washington DC, 07/2025 2:. Ann & Jackie @ifnotnowbmore . Baltimore MD, 07/2024 3:. Charly with Divine. Baltimore MD, 08/2024 4: with @jebmedia . Fire Island Pines, NY. 09/2024 5: @sophielizbear at home, with Daniela. Baltimore, MD. 10/2024 6: @re__orr at Butch Gardens. Baltimore, MD. 11/2024 7: After @eileen.myles poetry reading. Baltimore, MD. 11/2024 8: @aidelk & Kristeene’s 30-ish birthday. NYC, 12/2024 9: Shayna & Esther @ifnotnowbmore chanukah party. Baltimore MD, 12/24 10: New Year’s Eve @thecompoundbaltimore , 01/2025 11: Jade at recruitment for the dept of neuroscience. Baltimore MD, 02/2025 12.@begerman presents @mdhistory.gay Baltimore, MD. 03/2025 14. Purim festivities with @kondad , @pocketsizedenby , Shayna, and Esther. Baltimore MD, 03/2025 14-15: @elinnewell , INN Baltimore, & friends at the IfNotNow leadership weekend. MD, 05/2025. 16: @jonnymon_ working on strategy for INN Baltimore. Baltimore, MD. 06/2025 17: @julesavivrose 30th birthday. NYC. 06/2025 18: @hope_orjuela eating ice cream. Baltimore MD, 07/2025 19: @atelier.lj talks about their piece Stormé at Stonewall, in the Natl. Portrait Gallery. Washington DC, 07/2025 The past year has been a hard one for me. It’s also been full of wonderful things, in large part thanks to my queer communities. Growing up, I did not know a single out queer person I was a deeply awkward, ambitious, and curious kid - all things a girl in my world was not supposed to be. When i thought about adulthood, I struggled to imagine a future for myself. I didn’t know exactly what i wanted my life to look like but i suspected it was not anything i saw around me. I’m really grateful to have ultimately found my queer community & a place in a larger queer world. In some ways (a career in science, vibrant Jewish community, living in a major city), my life today is the stuff of my childhood dreams. Mostly, it’s outside anything my younger self could have envisioned or understood. I think she would have loved it though. #dyke #queerliberation #noprideingenocide #charmcity

Saturday night we celebrated @konflagration ’s 10 years of top surgery. Baltimore MD • 07/19/25 I’m very lucky to count Konrad among my friends, & celebrating him this weekend was so incredibly joyful. Sex change can save lives. But i don’t want to talk about that - it’s a defensive argument that buys into the logic of transphobic gatekeepers. Many trans people would continue to survive without access to the gender affirming care they need. But how cruel to live in a world where the best we can hope for is survival. I want us to talk about how the right to change our own sex allows people to truly live - as we choose to, free of preventable suffering, with dignity, with joy. Bread, roses, & hormones too!* We all deserve that. *credit for riffing on the classic socialist slogan goes to a Canadian trans activist group who were active in the late 2010s- early 2020s #transliberation #queerliberation #charmcity #LEGALIZEPOPPERS

📸 Photographs by Mal Svei @malwithcam , 2024-2025. “As butch/ trans masculine folks, we are not legible to the mainstream gaze. In most spaces — even some queer ones — we are seen as failed girls, deviant and possibly dangerous freaks, or projections of some manic pixie fantasy. Normative frameworks can’t conceive of us as objects of desire without undermining our masculinity or playing it up into a form of sexy macho drag. Butches can have feminine sides, and performing our gender as drag can be fun. But we should be able to be seen just as we are. Our dyke sexuality is desirable on its own terms, and our masculinity is no more or less performative than that of cis men. These photographs are some of my efforts to show my friends and lovers as i see them: Sexy, powerful, and real.“ Pictured: Slide 2, Madison (they/he), @madison_ew_ Slide 4&5, Mel (they/he), @mel__b_ Submitted by @malwithcam , 2025. #butch #butchlesbian #butch4butch #transmasc #butchdyke #lesbianart #lesbianphotography #queer #queerphotography #lesbianarchives #queerarchives

a queer space & time NYC • 06/29/25 after NYC pride, on the piers. #queervisibility #queernyc #queerliberation