A photographic series featuring trans-gendered homeless teenagers in NYC. When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope… --W. Shakespeare Becoming Visible A portrait series by Josh Lehrer http://JoshLehrer.com Becoming Visible: The Project New York’s fastest growing homeless youth population consists of a surprising subset – trans-gendered teenagers.* Many of them have fled their homes due to hostility, rejection and/or violence. Drawn to New York City through the lure and lore of the Internet, these trans-kids arrive, expecting to find acceptance and support. Often, things do not work out that way. Left with little choice, these cast-offs find themselves turning tricks, taking drugs and engaging in high risk sexual behavior while their dreams of connection, advancement and assimilation are quickly dashed. Trans-gendered teens face a stark reality; society continues to offer little in terms of understanding, opportunity or identity expression for them. But, by remaining silent and invisible, the situation will not improve. We must give these trans-kids a voice and a presence to promote understanding and change. With this lack of cultural presence in mind, I set out to make a series of large cyanotypes. I ultimately made 40 unique portraits that I captured over the course of eighteen months in a temporary studio that I set up on the fourth floor of a shelter for kicked out LGBT youth in midtown Manhattan called Sylvia’s place. The images were captured on medium format black and white film and enlarged in the darkroom to 16 x 20’ negatives that I contact printed onto 20 x 24” water color paper hand coated with cyanotype emulsion. The series was given a show at Robert Miller Gallery in April and May of this year. And to see the faces of many of my subjects as they saw themselves loving depicted on the walls of such a prestigious gallery was the highlight of my nascent photographic career. And to be able to donate a portion of the sales made it feel useful and especially pertinent. And inspired me to continue this work. Becoming Visible II: Becoming Visible has been my attempt, through photography, to bring faces out from the shadows by placing them front and center in my portraits. Many homeless trans-gendered teens have been traumatized by the loss of their families, their homes and often, their dignity. I now intend to increase the visibility created by the success of the show at Robert Miller, both literally and figuratively to significantly expand the project. There are spectacularly gritty environments surrounding these kids’ homeless shelter, some of the last outposts of dangerous Manhattan. I want to continue to ennoble this population and give them a historical context by shooting them in their environments and printing them in very large platinum and palladium. The glory of the printing process and the stark reality of the places will create a dynamic pull that exemplifies what I see as both the past and the future of these kids lives. In my pursuit of ennoblement, I want to make these prints very large. Utilizing state of the art digital technology, it is my intent to capture everything on film, scan it all at a very high resolution and output onto ceramic coated acetate to create a digital negatives that are 5 x 7 ‘. I will be working with Steve Rifkin at his place in Mt. Vernon to retro fit a darkroom in which we can expose and process Platinum and Palladium prints at this size. I believe they will be the largest Platinum and Palladium prints ever created. While expanding our human capacity for compassion, I also want to expand the capabilities of photographic process. The Art Production Fund, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation, has been kind enough to provide support as a fiscal sponsor to the project. Art Production Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping artist realize difficult – to –produce works, reaching new audiences and expanding public participation and understanding of contemporary art. APF assists with projects that might otherwise remain unrealized in order to support artists’ visions and at the same time bring pivotal works to diverse communities. Trans-gendered people pose a direct threat to what it means to be a man or a woman. They challenge and expand the boundaries of those definitions. The pain that they experience on the road to self-acceptance links them to all others who suffer with issues of identity, belonging and gender roles. I believe that this includes all of humanity. It is imperative that resources be allocated to help these individuals bridge the gap between crisis and vitality, to help them move from their rejecting families to new and more welcoming structures. At the same time, the responsibility of expanding our notions of gender identity falls on the rest of us. And that will only happen when we know who these kids are. When we can attach a face to the abstract notion of a trans-gendered person, it becomes far more difficult to reject them out of hand. As we recognize parts of ourselves in these people, isolation falls from both sides of the equation – subject and viewer. And is replaced with unity. It starts with becoming visible. Josh Lehrer For the past 25 years, Josh Lehrer has been an integral part of New York’s artistic community. He began his career as an actor, appearing on stage, screen and television in wide variety of roles. He later found his real passion in photography, but brought his actor’s sense of realism and irony to his photographic works. For seven years, Josh served as the director of Showtime Network’s still photography, and oversaw all of its series, film, and identity campaigns. Ultimately. Upon the birth of his second child, Josh returned to school to study photography full time. And since graduating from The International Center for Photography he has focused on portraiture and thematic imagery with an eye toward expanding the capabilities of alternative process printing, as well as digital capture for traditional magazine and promotional work. Josh’s photographs have appeared all over New York in galleries and exhibitions, as well as on billboards and subway stations. His clients run the gamut from business leaders, Broadway legends and screen stars to large commercial enterprises. Josh lives and works on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is a graduate of Boston University’s School for the Arts and The International Center of Photography. 1963 Born in Boston 1981- 1985 Boston University School for the Arts 1987 Venice Biennale - The King Stag, Andrei Serban, Director 1988 Paris Festival D’Autumne - Alcestis, Robert Wilson, director 1989 The Nederlander Organization, NYC 1991 Pace Theatrical, NYC 1995 Atlantic Theatre Company, Executive Director, NYC 1998 The Showtime Network, Director of Still Photography 2005 The International Center of Photography Currently lives and works in New York City Solo Exhibitions 2010 Becoming Visible Robert Miller Gallery, NYC 2009 Hero Worship The Gettysburg Arts Festival, Gettysburg PA 2008 Stars of NY Real Estate The Guy Regal Gallery, NYC