Z Walsh

Feminine Man

”I didn’t fight this hard to be any man – I want to be this kind of a man.”

Z Walsh’s Feminine Man is a tribute to the women in his life who, in his own words, have made him the man he is today. As a transgender man, Z has always questioned the concepts of masculinity and femininity. From a broader, societal perspective, these concepts can also be quite ambiguous: what, for example, defines femininity? For Z, femininity represents those aspects of himself that he, in the beginning of his transition, tried to escape from and conceal in order to fit the masculine ideal. Today, however, he embraces femininity, not only in others but also in himself, consciously making space for it at the forefront of his personality. By doing so, Z has been able to critically examine the misogynistic presumptions that he, like anyone, has internalized through culture.

“Since early childhood, I gravitated toward women and girls. I find them endlessly compelling and admirable. Mostly I remember the wanting - wanting so badly to be them, to be with them, to be close to them. When I first started to wrestle with the possibility that I might be male, I worried I could be acting unconsciously under the influence of internalized misogyny. But I needn’t have worried because I had it all wrong: It was only once I was honest about my gender that I was able to connect with women in the way I had always wished for. I still think the realest proof I have of the fact that gender is inherent, and transness is not a choice is that if I could have picked my gender, I would have chosen to be a girl.”

To love all parts of yourself and of those around you despite societal norms that tell you otherwise, is a radical act of care. It is something that could be perceived as feminine, and yet something that can be done by all genders. Femininity and masculinity are not gender markers or bound to a binary. They are acts and attributes anyone can acquire, and can be celebrated in anyone, by everyone. With this show, Z gives homage to the feminine parts of himself, proudly presented here through diary-like self-portraits.

Most of all,  Feminine Man is a love letter to Z’s community of friends and lovers, past and present. It is a portrait of them seen through Z’s camera and eyes, through fevered club nights, long breaths of resistance, sharing secrets and burdens, and small moments of joy. Where society’s edges shape us through exclusion and trauma, our hurt places are softened by those with whom we share love. Feminine Man is a celebration of love pushed to margins, and of love towards oneself, found in the embrace of the feminine.   

Z Walsh is a Brooklyn based artist creating raw, intimate portraits of his subjects and himself. Working as a male photographer, Z's practice is shaped by his past experience modeling and doing sex work as a girl. Since coming out in 2016, Walsh has been recognized internationally as a photographer and director. His work is guided by an unwavering commitment to studying and adoring transgender beauty while combating transmasculine erasure.