On Becoming 2019-present M.L. Barnes is an Oakland based photographer who asked me to photograph her gender affirming vaginoplasty surgery and recovery in 2019. We have been working together since, sharing intimate moments through the documentation of her evolution and additional procedures. At first a project corporal, focused on the painful surgical description of healing and rebirth, now an ongoing body of work that demonstrates the development of a deep friendship through collaborative image-making, a range of complex shared experiences, and most importantly, queer joy. Photographs of M. L. by Lindsey Photographs of Lindsey by M. L.