Boys will be Boys at Junior High

Lucky’s butt & satin, 2017 - the day after my solo show opens, this amazing group show I have work in also opens in LA at @juniorhighla curated by @irrisrray 💖 event link & info below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/238295333504823

“Boys Will Be Boys” is a photography group show that tells stories about masculinity, ones that expand and challenge our cultural expectations for masculine identity. In our work, the nine contributing artists lend our unique voices to the subject by representing masculinity in ways that have historically been denied visibility. Each of us has felt the negative impact of masculine ego in our lives - from ridicule, to abuse, to erasure of identity. This show allows us an important opportunity to subvert the masculine qualities upheld by tradition and normalize diverse expressions of masculinity. It’s a defiant celebration. ♥

The exhibit will be hosted at Junior High in Hollywood, running from November 9-30!

xo

Laurence



september updates

Hi! A quick update to say what’s been going on this month ~ First up, I have some work in the third edition of the Boys! Boys! Boys! auction on Paddle8 in collaboration with The Little Black Gallery, you can view that here (only 2 days left to bid!) : https://paddle8.com/auction/more-boys-boys-boys/

Additionally, I have two pieces in the exhibition of the same name at The Hospital Club in London at the moment, which coincides with the launch of the Boys! Boys! Boys! book with all proceeds going to the Elton John Aids foundation. Here are some images from that :

Aside from that, I have spent this month working on a short film with Arizona O’Neill, which will premiere in Montreal on November 8 at The Letter Bet. I’ve been shooting still images from the film alongside Arizona filming and will be displaying prints of these stills to go with the short film at the gallery. More info on this soon but in the meantime here is one preview image and some ~behind the scenes :) I’ve been thinking about making a short film based around my orange wig series for a long time now so I’m very excited to see it come to life!!


I also added a lot of new prints on society6, you can view those here : https://society6.com/laurencephilomene (I am also planning on adding a prints section to this website soon for archival + exhibition prints, in the meantime though if you want an archival print just drop me a line via email any time)

xo

Laurence


nb portraits - chloe

Another new addition to my non-binary portrait series - took these pictures of Chloe this week, in some sort of colourful camouflage. As always, these images are the result of a collaboration between me and the model - for these ones specifically, Chloe came up with this concept in relation to them feeling invisible as a non binary person of colour yet also not quite blending in. 

We shot these at my home studio during a stormy afternoon :)

xo

Laurence


Lucky on Broadly

Slowly but surely revealing this body of work I’ve been working on with Lucky for the last 7 years. Had some snippets of it published in Broadly this past month, you can see the article here: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/zmkknw/laurence-philomene-photos-trans-intersex

Lucky: A Star is Born” is an ongoing photo project focused on my best friend, Lucky.

I started taking pictures of Lucky in 2011, when we first met and started dating (at the time—now I just consider him family, and he is happily married to an amazing woman). I compulsively document everything in my life, so I would say it started that way, taking diary photos of this person I love. Eventually, I started taking pictures whenever we hung out, and staging photoshoots with him as well, curating a timeline of his style as it has evolved over time.

As the project took shape, my intention came into focus: To simply show an intersex and trans person experiencing the highs and lows of life, surviving, loving, being loved. As a trans photographer myself, it’s important to me to shift the gaze of cis photographers profiting off of trans bodies, and create a body of work that is rooted in mutual care. As trans visibility increases, I want to make sure it’s shown that trans people who do not fit neatly in the binary are beautiful too. I want to show androgyny in a way that’s not “neutral,” but rather the opposite—extreme masculinity mixed with extreme femininity. I want to capture the stunning audacity to exist as everything all at once.

The below is just an small selection of a massive, years-long project. Ultimately, I hope the full body of work will show the layered complexity of our existences as queer, trans, working class, mentally ill, beautiful humans. At the core, this work is about capturing identity as an unstable force rather than a static label.

xo

Laurence

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