Female to ‘Male’: A Transgender Photographer Documents His Transition

For Female to “Male,” Toronto-based photographer Wynne Neilly closely documents his transition. Each week after receiving his testosterone shot, Neilly photographed himself on instant film, preserving forever the memory of a specific moment during his evolution. In these personal snapshots, Neilly’s body stands alone, existing within a vacuum of white space. Sequenced and neatly aligned, these aggregate dates cease to be distinct, blurring together into a single fluid narrative of self-actualization.

Neilly explains that he turned to an instant camera after selling his former camera to help pay for his top surgery. For him, the one-of-a-kind images run parallel to the singular physical selves chronicled during this time of transformation. “There were times […] when I felt very vulnerable and exposed, not only to the public or the audience that would see my work, but also to myself,” Neilly says of the project.

Neilly’s quotation marks, cushioning the word “male,” are an assertion of his non-binary identity. In his experience, the transition hasn’t been a simple metamorphosis from the feminine into the masculine, but rather a complex expression of his identity as a trans person. Neilly’s polaroid images were exhibited as part of an exhibit at Ryerson University alongside voice recordings and objects collected during his transition.

All images © Wynne Neilly

via Beautiful/Decay

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