Women et Homme

I stumbled across the Crossdressers International house while pursuing a location for a different series. Just a glance materialized into hours of schmoozing and laughing. I had come across the image of New York I had only heard stories of. Months later, I returned with my camera, not to make observations but to form visual and verbal relationships.

These women born men have no interest in operations and hormones though this doesn’t mute their enthusiasm in identity. From dinners within the confines of this small, Midtown garden apartment to events in restaurants and excursions to their favorite tavern, these seemingly unordinary people find their place as ordinary women. This project is not laced with boas and is not meant to exploit their identity like so many documentations of gender performance are. The seemingly average lifestyle of these women is what most interests me. What the general public fails to recognize is the difference between crossdressing and drag. Crossdressers perform gender as a way to live out the female side born into them and sometimes to fulfill sexual desires. Crossdressing is mostly kept behind closed doors whereas someone in drag performs gender for entertainment or political purposes.

These women’s stories are littered with wives and partners, children and professions. Some come from supportive backgrounds and some remain secretive. In the beginning, as much as I wanted to stay away from irony, I couldn't help but capture it because my relationship with these women was purely superficial and from afar. I still see the duality in certain situations but now just the same as any photographer sees duality, irony, humor and beauty enough to photograph it.

The best stories are told first hand. Art viewers bring their own experience to relate to the piece. As a photographer, I bring my own experience to a setting until my subjects become an experience.

- Evan Schwartz