Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Twenty years after Modern Lovers, a body of work on androgyny and transgender created when AIDS was at its peak, Bettina Rheims now presents her Gender Studies. She writes: -Yesterday, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was strolling along the Seine trying to reach the right bank. Paris was full of police cars blocking access to the bridges, while masses of people, -normal families, - were rushing towards the center of town. They were carrying aggressive banners displaying homophobic and racist statements, and refused to acknowledge the existence of -gender theory.- Three years earlier I had placed an ad on Facebook encouraging young men and women who felt -different- to contact my studio. We received dozens of replies, from all over the world, like faraway calls wanting to be heard. It was my aim to show them and give them a voice--to acknowledge them. They came to the studio, exposed themselves shyly, and I photographed them just like that.- In the light of current controversial debates on gender theory, Rheims' models display remarkable courage by questioning, modifying and celebrating their identities.