“My hope for 2026 is that my queer and trans siblings can live fully and unapologetically, without fear or stigmatization.” Stas Ginzburg
Photographer Stas Ginzburg captures 10 queer and trans individuals in New York City as they share their hopes for 2026.
To mark the start of 2026, we partnered with Brooklyn-based photographer Stas Ginzburg to continue his ongoing photographic project, Sanctuary. In this special portfolio, he invites us into the personal worlds of 10 queer and trans individuals in New York City, each responding to the question: “What are your hopes, globally and personally, for 2026?”
My hope for 2026 is that my queer and trans siblings can live fully and unapologetically, without fear or stigmatization. The abundance of creativity within our community affirms a shared humanity that resists erasure. Personally, I hope to bring Sanctuary into book form as a living archive of resilience and beauty for future generations.
STAS GINZBURG
Ginzburg’s work spans long-term documentary projects exploring queer and trans activism, American subcultures, and life in public space. Sanctuary focuses on the domestic landscapes of queer, trans, and non-binary individuals across the United States. Each portrait is shaped through a collaborative process grounded in trust and conversation, allowing sitters to present themselves with honesty and intention. The surrounding interiors — filled with personal objects, textures, and signs of daily life — become integral to the image, offering a layered narrative of identity, memory, and survival.
While each photograph centers on a single individual, together they form a collective portrait of chosen family, revealing how queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming people are bound by shared experiences of perseverance, care and kinship. By inviting the viewer into these private spaces, the series offers a counter-narrative to the mainstream stigmatization of queer and trans lives – one grounded in autonomy, intimacy, and the sustaining power of community.
AREWÀ BASIT, MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
In 2026, I hope for a world moving toward collective care and where conflicts are de-escalated, climate action is taken seriously. I am manifesting communities that prioritize dignity, safety, and shared humanity over profit and power. For the Black queer and trans future, the dream is one of radical joy and survival beyond resilience: full access to safety, healthcare, housing, creative freedom, and leadership, where Black queer and trans people are not just protected, but celebrated and able to thrive.
AREWÀ BASIT
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
JOSÉ, MOVEMENT ARTIST AND MODEL
In 2026, I hope to continue creating meaningful work, to grow through new adventures, and to stay motivated by curiosity rather than fear. I want to explore who I am becoming and honor that evolution.
JOSÉ
MOVEMENT ARTIST AND MODEL
GÜARIX, TRANSDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
Have a dignified life.
GÜARIX
TRANSDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
Güarix is a young trans woman from Puerto Rico who moved to the US this past summer. When Ginzburg reached out to her to take her portrait, she shared that she does not currently have permanent housing and is staying at a shelter in Staten Island. She asked to be photographed outdoors, at the bus stop she uses daily to commute into the city, staging the act of injecting her hormones to reflect the reality of living without a home and the ways trans people create sanctuary through movement, survival and moments of borrowed privacy. “Have a dignified life,” she says.
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO, COUNTERTENOR, GENERAL DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT, OPERA PHILADELPHIA
In 2026, I want to have more little moments of abandon, when I can let go and everything can release. Perhaps naively, I hope that globally in 2026, our collective actions can make people feel more free, not less free.
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO
COUNTERTENOR, GENERAL DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT, OPERA PHILADELPHIA
ZACH, WRITER AND VISUAL ARTIST
My personal hopes for 2026 are to see my writing published in more spaces and to keep expanding my customized leather apparel line. Globally, I’m manifesting a widespread divestment from toxic celebrity worship. I envision that energy and excitement instead re-invested into local queer and BIPOC artists and creators.
ZACH
WRITER AND VISUAL ARTIST
COLIN, FILMMAKER
I hope 2026 brings global solidarity and care among people facing systemic oppression, and success in the fight against empire and facism. Personally, I hope for more ways to connect my creative skills to things I care about.
COLIN
FILMMAKER
ALANA JESSICA, ACTRESS, MODEL AND NIGHTLIFE PERSONALITY
In 2026, I hope to be drenched in love and art and glamour, sex and money and fame. I can feel my dreams coming true, because I know that through God, all things are possible!
ALANA JESSICA
ACTRESS, MODEL AND NIGHTLIFE PERSONALITY
GLOW JOB, NIGHTLIFE CLOWN AND PERFORMANCE ARTIST
In 2026, my goal is to truly love my unique self along with everything I offer. We are on the precipice of losing our humanity, but loving ourselves is the answer. My hope for the world in 2026 is to turn back towards reality and seek the truth within ourselves and everyone.
GLOW JOB
NIGHTLIFE CLOWN AND PERFORMANCE ARTIST
DEVIN-NORELLE, TELEVISION HOST AND TRANS ADVOCATE
My hope is that the centrist democratic party realizes that anti-trans narratives are not winning elections. My hope is that our elected officials pass or enforce existing legislation protecting trans healthcare, trans kids, trans rights, and access to mental health resources. My hope is that I can continue, through my activism, aiding migrants who move to cities, like New York, that ensure access to their trans-related needs and protections.
DEVIN-NORELLE
TELEVISION HOST AND TRANS ADVOCATE
LEONARDO, DANCER AT ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
As I turn 30 next year, I long for health, healing, alignment. Giving space for my artistic intentions to bloom, nonstop. Undefeated. Allowing a strong becoming into my own self. For the world, I hope compassion leads the way. Less war. Less violence. More understanding. More care.
LEONARDO
DANCER AT ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
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