Circus Act or Portraiture (March 30, 2006)
Has there really been a portrait photographer who has depicted transvestites in a compassionate way? I have been thinking about that one. Diane Arbus was considered by many to be one of the first to explore transvestites in a humane light. However, if one were to examine her photos of transvestites within the oeuvre of her work, it would become clear that they were just one of the many “freaks” on the fringe of her society, a motif that writers have often treated as Arbus’s own alienation from society. Nan Goldin is a later figure that comes to mind as well. Though I respect how Goldin sees the transcedental nature of transgirls, there’s still an element of the sideshow curiosity, detached from any connection to the rest of the human race or emotion. It certainly isn’t representative of what’s really out there. I’d like to think that a persona isn’t wholly centered around one’s trans* state. To put it simply, when the clothes, padding, makeup, and hormone tablets are put away, what are we left with?
It’s a problem, because success stories- by validation of public recognition- always form a precedence for many future practitioners to emulate. I’ve always been of the opinion that ideas which result from interdisciplinary knowledge are far more interesting than homogenous copies. That’s not to say that I won’t be interested in a photo essay on transvestites by someone like Mary Ellen Mark, or Sebastiao Salgado.
Maybe the photographer is just showing the way the girls feel about , and express, themselves. Sure, photographers are able to exert their biases and opinions by the way they frame and influence poses, but the don’t you think the essence of the person will shine through?
It’s not easy for a photographer to discover how someone feels about themselves. And even when they do, there’s still the process of editing, retouching, and selection from the lightbox. It’s not always easy for an individual to shine through. I think you have to have just the right amount of personality to shine through …without being suffocating in that :OOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!! drag queen way. The most memorable example that comes to mind is Ken Burns’s jazz. All the jazz pundits were talking a hundred words a minute trying to bring Cecil Taylor down. But in the background, they were playing Rick Kick Shaw from Jazz Advances. And no matter what they said, his music alone cut through their dismissals like a hot knife through butter.
But how many of us are Cecil Taylor?