texas isaiah’s tender portrayals of black trans masc folks
Texas Isaiah’s “Flowers At Your Feet: A Cherished Horizon” at Residency Art Gallery marks the photographer’s first solo show in Los Angeles. The exhibition, which closed on June 1, continues the visual conversations from his 2021 Studio Museum of Harlem residency, showcasing deeply tender portrayals of Black trans masculine identities in moments of grief, rest, contemplation, devotion, sexuality, and love.
And can we also talk about Texas Isaiah’s masterful lighting and composition in these photographs?! I can’t recall an exhibition solely dedicated to spotlighting this kind of image making, particularly of queer T4T (trans for trans) love and relationships, a radical inclusion and centering amidst underreported and overlooked nationwide attacks on, discrimination against, and misrepresentations of Black trans-masculine individuals and communities and the wider Black and brown trans community.
I’m also very grateful to have caught the brilliant artist talk between Texas Isaiah and writer-advisor Auttrianna Ward of Auttrianna Projects on May 18 at Residency. Here’s one of many insightful, vulnerable gems that Texas Isaiah shared with the audience on his motivation to portray Black trans-masculine folks in “Flowers at Your Feet: A Cherished Horizon” and throughout his career:
“People don’t think about—trigger warning—that we experience assault. Or that we have high percentages of incarceration, you know? Things that also impact other people, too. So I think that it’s just so much about just seeing us as people and making space for that. It’s really important because a lot of trans-masculine people are isolated and they don’t want to be isolated. I think that there is also a thing about white men, or cis men, in particular, being extremely isolated. When I talk to trans-masculine folks, they don’t desire that. They want to be in community, and it can be really complicated with those [dehumanizing] projections.”
