Laurence Philomene
Puberty
about
Laurence Philomene is a non-binary photographer, director and curator based in Montreal, Canada. Laurence’s work is colourful and candid, and deals with questions of identity as seen through a queer/trans lens.
Laurence’s work on gender and identity has been published in the likes of Dazed, I- D[G1] , Vice, Broadly, CBC Arts, Courrier International, Teen Vogue, Hunger Magazine, Wonderland, and The Independent, to name a few. Laurence has participated in over 30 exhibitions worldwide, including 3 solo exhibits in Toronto, Berlin and Cracow.
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Puberty is an ongoing self-portrait documentary project around my transition as a trans-masculine person undergoing hormone replacement therapy. The images are not about drastic change but rather about the slow passage of time; taking appreciation in the daily, mundane, beauty of life. I’ve been toying with the idea of documenting my transition for a while. I started taking testosterone in April 2018. Witnessing these changes within myself is an interesting challenge as a self-portrait photographer. They are subtle changes. With this in mind, I ask myself: how do we curate ourselves? What if instead of selling an impossible lifestyle, I just showed you the reality? And what if there was beauty in that? So right now, this is “puberty.” It’s pictures of me on my couch every single day. It’s taking a bath. It’s the little things. I want to show another side of trans existence, one that isn’t so glamorous, that isn’t on the cover of magazines. Just the mundane reality of human existence.
NB: Some content may not be suitable for a young audience.