At first glance appearing as an advertising campaign, this series rather advances the notion that broadening the narrow confines of conventional femininity is aesthetically compelling and desirable. It was necessary to merge a fashion approach–casting, direction, lighting, styling and make-up together with a documentary strategy using real people self-representing. My objective was to intervene in the common dismissal of genderqueer imagery, particularly non-normative femininity. The specificity of urban context is vital as Berlin is one of few cities in the world where female masculinity is a prominent visual presence. The subjects in this series reside in Berlin but hail from a diversity of national backgrounds. Masculine femininity, often seen in popular culture as 'drag queens' has a longer history in Western cultural memory. Yet it is often dismissed as frivolous entertainment. In contrast, female masculinity barely has a pulse. Having previously worked on the subject of female masculinity using a traditional documentary approach, the discomfort in looking at my subjects was palpable in many meetings with photography professionals. I realized I needed a new strategy to prevent unconscious prejudice from stymieing the work. That viewers immediately experience the subjects as interesting, compelling and attractive while admittedly struggling to place the sex of the model reflected that this strategy was affective. Berlin Lookbook continues my focused exploration of gender construction and representation. This project was created in collaboration with Nadja Brendel as Producer.  Make-up was by Madame Kamme.

My objective was to intervene in the common dismissal of genderqueer imagery, particularly non-normative femininity. The specificity of urban context is vital as Berlin is one of few cities in the world where female masculinity is a prominent visual presence.