Lost Boys by Liz Calvi

“Ask your brother if he knows my brother. He will know him. He’s terrible....”

Lost Boys depicts young men living in the American suburbs. Their age’s range from 18 – 25, they are from Generation Y. In reverie between youth and adulthood, this generation has been called the peter pan generation because they’ve had delays into adulthood and frequently return to their hometowns because of financial hardships. These are my brothers. Some I knew from my past and others I’ve met recently. Not only do they embody a generation, but they also epitomize the actions of generations past.

I want to break down traditional male gender stereotypes that our society has created. I aim to have my subjects dually express a level of vulnerability and tenderness that is often looked down upon for men. Being a female photographer, I am also questioning the male gaze to further challenge gender stereotypes.

I am interested in what home means to these boys in conjunction with what it means to feel happiness and freedom; ideas that we have constructed in relation to the American Dream. These boys are all in a state of repose in their parent’s homes; not the common trajectory for males in accordance to the American Dream.

I photograph with the 4 x 5 camera, because it allows me to create a formal documentation as well as collaboration with my subjects. Because of the nature of set up with this camera, I am able to form, regardless of how fleeting, an intimate relationship and get to know these boys. It allows me to see how they present themselves to me in addition to how I perceive them. These boys are just as much fragments of myself as I see them as another.

“If your brother is so terrible then what are you?” I asked this boy casually smoking in front of me. He took a deep inhale before responding.

“Beloved.” He replied, “or at least that’s what I’d like to be.”

Liz Calvi lives and work in West Hartford, CT.
To view more of Liz's work, please visit her website.

You can purchase a photograph by Liz Calvi from the Fraction Editions.