Beautiful Boy by Lissa Rivera

Issue 93

"Beautiful Boy" is an ongoing project focusing on my domestic partner as muse, documenting our exploration of femininity and the nuances of photography as a transformative medium. I am using photography as a testing ground for my partner, who is genderqueer, to visualize multiple feminine identities. The photographs provide a canvas to investigate the visual language of womanhood that I was raised with, and that my partner is only beginning to explore. Through watching movies, listening to music, and viewing countless photographs, I've absorbed an archive of techniques to share. The photographs recall childhood fantasies of dressing up, tapping into deep-seated narratives about desire, beauty, freedom and cultural taboo. Although our emotional relationship is private and real, we perform a romanticism that is obsessive and decadent. The fantasy of dressing up transforms the experience of being photographed into one that fuses identity-creation with image-creation. 

Lissa Rivera lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
To view more of Lissa's work, please visit her website.
For sales inquiries please contact ClampArt. 

Motel, Virginia

Motel, Virginia

 
Mirror with Jewels

Mirror with Jewels

Bath

Bath

 
Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

 
Back at University

Back at University

 
Fur

Fur

 
My Swimsuit

My Swimsuit

 
All the Vogue

All the Vogue

 
White Carpet Odalisque, Family Home

White Carpet Odalisque, Family Home

 
Motel Virginia II

Motel Virginia II

 
Object of Desire

Object of Desire

 
Venus

Venus

 
Eggleston Hair

Eggleston Hair

 
Prospect Park

Prospect Park