Lorenzo Triburgo examines gender identity and construct in his photo series Transportraits — Renaissance-style portraits of trans men set against Bob Ross landscape oil paintings. The artist actually painted the backgrounds himself, using Ross’ The Joy of Painting as his guide. Triburgo wanted to portray the idea that nature, like gender, can also be a construct. The medium of photography played an essential role in Triburgo’s conceptual process, because of its increasingly subjective nature. “Things can be altered or the subjectivity of the person taking the photo can dictate how it’s created,” the artist recently told Slate. “The same thing goes toward gender. Someone is assigned a gender at birth, when I don’t think there’s any truth behind that. I think gender is something that can grow and change and is more subjective than it’s seen at large.” The upward angle of the dignified portraits communicates a personal connection between artist and subject, as Triburgo was undergoing his own gender transition at the time. See more of Triburgo’s Transportraits in our gallery.
Lorenzo Triburgo, Valley Waterfall (Erin)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Winter Woods (Dani)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Two Seasons (Andrew)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Little House By the Road (Jesse)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Lake in the Valley (KC)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Mirrored Images (Carter)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Ocean Sunset (Max)
Lorenzo Triburgo, An Arctic Winter Day (Jose)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Island Paradise (Xavier)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Around the Bend (Reid)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Purple Haze (Mason)
Lorenzo Triburgo, Russet Winter (Kris)