Photography has long served as a critical medium through which LGBTQIA+ artists have explored concepts of identity, interrogated social norms, and constructed alternative modes of visibility. Yet despite their profound influence, such voices have often remained underrepresented in mainstream narratives of photographic history.

Today, a new generation of queer photographers is reshaping the medium—blurring the lines between intimacy and politics, personal history and public gaze, vulnerability and strength. Within this context, the photographic image becomes not only a means of self-expression but also a powerful site of resistance and reclamation.

It is an honor to present this group of contemporary photographers whose work not only challenges conventional aesthetics but also reclaims space in a world that has not always welcomed them. From portraiture and performance-based imagery to documentary and surreal forms of abstraction, these artists offer bold, deeply personal visions that expand our understanding of queer identity, desire, and community.

-Nathan Lomas

20 LGBTQIA+ PHOTOGRAPHERS YOU NEED TO KNOW IN 2025!

**“Pup Massimo (prism)” by Apolo Gomez | Polaroid 600 film**

Apolo Gomez | @apologomez | apologomez.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

Everything about this image is working for me; the bold color, expressive eyes under the hood, and the tangibility of a Polaroid combined with a prismatic reclamation of photographic space. It seems to offer physical proof of a world close by that may only be accessible to some. It exudes possibility, as though any and all of these handsome pups just wants to be the goodest boy that our wretched world needs right now. We all have our roles to fill, and if we are to survive, it must be together, with all our multitudes. Some of us are pack animals.

Artist Biography:

Apolo Gomez is a visual artist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Through photography, painting, and installation, his interdisciplinary practice explores the complex multiplicity of personhood, queerness, desire, and his latinx identity.

In 2023, Apolo was named one of the 12 New Mexico Artists to Know by Southwest Contemporary. In 2024 he was awarded the Fulcrum Fund by 516 Arts, supplemented by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Meow Wolf Foundation for his project “Tracing ChicanX Queer Histories”.

His Installation “Departures that Brought Us Here” is currently on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art Vladum Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM. His work has been exhibited internationally at ZonaMaco, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, 516 Arts, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. His work has been published in Viscose Journal, Southwest Contemporary, Headmaster, I-D, and featured on the covers of Elephant Magazine and De Groene Amsterdammer.

**“Tiny Poodles” by Better Rugged**
**Yashica A Medium Format TLR Camera, 80mm f/3.5 & Kodak Portra 400 Color Negative 120 Film**

Better Rugged aka Brandon Roberts
@betterrugged | betterrugged.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I must mention that in this particular case, I know both the photographer and subject from our local San Francisco community, and they are both distinct examples of queer artists who are leading with their tenderness and authenticity. There has been more than one occasion upon seeing some new collaborative creative effort between them that I smile inside and out. This image is a result of not only art-making, but community-building. Brandon always looks joyful documenting our fellow queer folk out in the clubs, and he is continuing to build an incredible archive of queer life in this city and beyond.

Artist Biography:

Brandon Roberts (aka BETTER RUGGED) is a visionary queer artist who navigates the landscapes of both geography and identity to craft compelling visual narratives with a unique edge. Brandon's adventurous spirit was kindled in the Pacific Northwest and flourished during his years in Los Angeles and New York City. Today, Brandon calls San Francisco home, where he continues evolving as an artist & community member.

Brandon honed his craft at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. His portfolio is a testament to his deep-seated desire to record the width and breadth of human experience. Well-traveled, highly adaptable, and a consummate storyteller, Brandon's photography explores subjects ranging from outdoor adventure to the deeply intimate spaces of the queer community and the kink subculture. Each of his photographs is an invitation — a portal to a world of emotions, identities, and adventures encouraging exploration and self discovery.

**“Perceptual Glitch” by Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez | Nikon F3 & altered 35mm film**

Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez | @theaffablegraindealer | theaffablegraindealer.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I believe I first stumbled onto Carlos’ work through an Instagram reel showing the artist baking his 35mm film into sourdough bread, slicing the bread open, and retrieving the film before showing some of the resulting surreal images. How absurd, bizarre, and wonderful. Carlos’ experimental techniques combine to a sublime effect, transporting any knowing queer to that space one can only unlock when lost in a trance on the perfect dance floor. I find his visual language to be one I immediately understand - one of fragmentation, imperfection, and the transcendent revelation in how stunning chaos can be.

Artist Biography:

My name is Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez and I am a visual artist primarily working in the realm of analog and alternative process photography. The goal of my work is twofold. First, I focus on telling visual stories while pushing the limits of photographic experimentation. Second, my mission is to reclaim the joyful nature of analog processes, considering the photographic act and the darkroom and as a playground with limitless possibilities. Inspired by my scientific background, I am drawn to the parallelisms between experimentation in the science lab and image manipulation in-camera and in the darkroom. Exploring new avenues for image creation using chemistry, physics, or mechanics make the process as crucial as the outcome. My work has been featured in specialized magazines and exhibited in galleries and international festivals and art fairs. I have collaborated with film brands, commercial brands, and worked with musicians and book authors to create impactful artwork. Hoping to inspire other artists, I have conducted a series of experimental photography workshops in local film labs and galleries.

**“Selene in the Backseat, Florida” by Carmen DeCristo | Nikon F100, Lomography 100 35mm color negative film**

Carmen DeCristo | @fotodecristo | decristophoto.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

There is a quietness and yet a powerful strength that vibrates from this image for me. It feels almost disconnected from time & space, as though it could have existed in any of the last several decades; it really doesn’t matter. This person is so at ease in their identity that a backseat moment approaches the cinematic. And can we please talk personal fashion? I am an unrepentant goth boy through and through, so I appreciate the sensibly-sized spiked cuff paired with the charm of the white cowboy hat; the ‘fit is truly working. Carmen’s work shines a light on the trans community’s resilience even in sometimes adverse and hostile sociopolitical climates.

Artist Biography:

Carmen DeCristo is an American portrait photographer using her lens to document the trans and queer communities she meets as she road trips around the country in her 2004 Camry. The work she makes on these trips ranges from snapshots to highly produced tableaus, all crafted on color negative film with a romantic sensibility that makes them hard to differentiate. The result is a distinct style that fuses fine art and documentarian influences. She provides a physical record of these communities’ narratives primarily through exhibitions of her ongoing project and quarterly zine American Girl Doll. DeCristo was the first trans woman to show work at the Fire Island Pines Art Project Biennial, a 40 year tradition in the queer haven. Her works were also shown in the Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee, Greenville Museum of Art, LaMaMa Galleria in Manhattan, New York, and more. Her distinct style has also been sought by producers on editorials for Them, GayTimes, Wussy Mag, Dazed Beauty and Pop Star Bitch, adding to her legacy of documenting and platforming her community.

**“X’s Armor” by Carson Stachura | Mamiya 7 & 120 color negative film**

Carson Stachura | @carson.stachura | carsonstachura.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

To me, this image from Carson’s series A Place I Keep Dreaming About exudes equal measures strength and tenderness, quietly defying the gender binary in a gorgeously surreal manner. It speaks of the confidence in embodying oneself even as prescribed roles fail to fully explain or define us. It reminds me that there is power to be found in all modes of being, and that the trans experience is additive; it can only broaden one’s perspectives and deepen one’s connection to self and planet. Carson’s imagery portrays trans bodies as an irrefutable fact of nature, perhaps at some future juncture where transness and forms of gender fluidity have become the norm.

Artist Biography:

Carson Stachura (he/him) is a portrait photographer and archivist based in Queens, New York. His practice is a response to depictions of gender deviance and the ‘trans portrait’ within the twentienth-century photographic archive, reckoning with contemporary mainstream discourse around trans visibility.

**“Anna Joy Post Surgery At Home (1997)” by Chloe Sherman | Nikon F3, Fuji Pro NPH 35mm film**

Chloe Sherman | @chloedsherman | chloeshermanstudio.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I first remember seeing Chloe’s work at Schlomer Haus Gallery in San Francisco’s Castro district, where Director Steffan Schlarb mounted many wonderful exhibitions of largely queer art in all media. I was quickly drawn in by the artist’s evident intimacy with her subjects, inviting viewers into a time and place that feels vibrant - teeming with the energy of a growing cultural revolution. They are authentic windows into our community’s recent lineage, made all the more potent by the similar struggles and triumphs that make our day to day existence.

Artist Biography:

Chloe Sherman (b. 1969, New York) is a San Francisco-based fine art photographer known for her vibrant portraits of queer life in San Francisco. Sherman received her degree in fine art photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999, during which time she began documenting a generation of young self-identified Queers. Sherman’s photographs, shot on 35mm film, offer a window into an era of gender experimentation, defiance, freedom, resilience, and tenderness. Her work has been exhibited and published internationally, including F³ Freiraum für Fotografie, Schlomer Haus Gallery, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Leica San Francisco, Rolling Stone Magazine, Interview Magazine, and the New Yorker. Sherman’s work is a part of the permanent collections at The National Gallery of Art, SF MOMA, and those of private collectors. A monograph of her work, Renegades: San Francisco – 1990s, was published in 2023 by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

**“Nick” by Christopher Behroozian | Mamiya RZ67 & Ilford HP5 film**

Christopher Behroozian | @chrisbehroozian | chrisbehroozian.co

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

Behroozian’s work expertly blends elements of classic aesthetics and contemporary queer themes, with a keen eye for lighting and engaging his portrait subjects. This arresting image of Nick was taken in his home in Nichols Canyon for the artist’s Beefy Calendar project, a self published yearly issue featuring monochrome portraits of men on the hirsute side of life. The clarity of detail and quality of light in this scene are mesmerizing; I can’t help letting my eyes linger on this beefcake’s sparkling chest fur as the light catches it just so. Chris started the project after discovering a 1997 Bearmen Calendar at Auto Erotica, a specialty store in San Francisco offering up queer historic material and memorabilia, perhaps the last of its kind remaining today.

Artist Biography:

Chris Behroozian is a queer Los Angeles based artist working in portraiture. He self published four issues of ‘Beefy Calendar’, a yearly calendar of black and white portraits of hairy men. His work has been published in Juxtapoz Magazine, VICE, Los Angeles Times, Pomegranate Press, and Queer Art. Exhibitions include TLALOC Studios, Humble Arts Foundation, The Image Flow, Gem Studio, Human Resources LA.

**“Allan” from the series *In Doorways* by Jeremy Colegrove | Mamiya RZ67 Pro II & Kodak Portra 400 film**

Jeremy Colegrove | @theanvilwillfall | jeremycolegrove.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I first saw Jeremy’s work via his submission to last year’s Queer Conscience LGBTQ+ group photography exhibition at The Image Flow gallery where I work in San Anselmo, California. It was, in fact, this image that was ultimately chosen for exhibition from his In Doorways series, which explores a broad spectrum of individual queerness in its subjects. Out of a desire to better understand his own queer identity, Jeremy collaborates with his community in a way that reveals their personal traits through his masterful visual storytelling.

Artist Biography:

Jeremy Colegrove is a photographer based in Los Angeles with a focus on contemporary documentary work. His main influences from early on have been work from photographers such as Stephen Shore, Larry Sultan, and Nan Goldin. Jeremy is drawn to making photographs that relate directly or in abstract ways to his own personal experiences.

**“Nipple Ring” from the series *Aftertast*e by Jorge Ariel Escobar | Lumen print process**

Jorge Ariel Escobar | @__jorgearielescobar | jorgearielescobar.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

The subtle tonality of Jorge’s lumen print series Aftertaste are at once gentle and dripping with detail that begs to be studied closely. “Aftertaste” is an apt descriptor for this work, which offers perhaps just an impression of the encounter that gave way to the images Jorge presents his viewers. Lumen prints are themselves transitory, unfixed images that continue to change and morph over time, just as intimacy and queer dynamics can shift and bend over the arc of relationships both brief and extended.

Artist Biography:

Jorge Ariel Escobar (b. 1994) is a queer/Latinx image-maker who holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was an Ed-GRS Fellow and received the Temkin Exhibition Award. His photographic work focuses on intimacy and desires, highlighting the ephemera qualities of short-term romantic encounters between queer men, while portraying the male form through a softer lens. Recent solo exhibitions include the Wriston Art Galleries in Appleton, WI, and the Common Wealth Gallery in Madison, WI. Other credits include group exhibitions at the Trout Museum of Art (Appleton, WI), the Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), Candela Gallery (Richmond, VA), The Image Flow (San Anselmo, CA) and the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL). He has further attended residencies and workshops at AZULE (Hot Springs, NC), Penland School of Craft (Bakersfield, NC), and Anderson Ranch Art Center (Snowmass Village, CO). Jorge’s work is included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Contemporary Photography and was awarded First Place at the TMA Contemporary Exhibition at the Trout Museum of Art.

Jorge currently lives in Milwaukee, WI, where he is a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

**“Held” by Kali Spitzer | Chamonix 8x10” Camera with antique brass portrait lens; wet plate collodion tintype**

Kali Spitzer | @kali_spitzer_photography | kalispitzer.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

As a practitioner of queer wet plate work myself, I am incredibly moved by Kali’s use of historic processes in portraying the contemporary trans and two-spirit community. This image depicts beyon wren moor, a two-spirit Nehiyaw from the Pimicikamac Nation and Min-Taylor Bai-Woo, a queer trans gender-fluid woman born and raised on Turtle Island. The pair were arrested on November 19, 2021 while supporting the fight for sovereignty of the Wet'suwet'en nation in defence of their territory against the ongoing construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline as it threatens to drill under the sacred river Wedzin Kwa. Through her lens, Kali manages to share the palpable bond between these two, who, despite being trans women were forced into the male division of the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre. Please visit yintahaccess.com to learn more and to support their cause.

Artist Biography:

Kali Spitzer is a photographer living on the Traditional Unceded Lands of the Tsleil-Waututh, Skxwúmesh and Musqueam peoples. Her work embraces the stories of contemporary BIPOC, Queer and trans bodies, creating representation that is self determined. Kali’s collaborative process is informed by the desire to rewrite the visual histories of Indigenous bodies beyond a colonial lens. Kali is Kaska Dena from Daylu (Lower Post, british columbia) on her father’s. On her Mother’s she is Jewish from Transylvania, Romania. Kali’s heritage deeply influences her work as she focuses on cultural revitalization through her art, whether in the medium of photography, ceramics, tanning hides or hunting.

Kali studied photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the Santa Fe Community College. Under the mentorship of Will Wilson, Kali explored alternative processes of photography. She has worked with film in 35 mm, 120 and large format, as well as wet plate collodion process using an 8x10 camera. Her work includes portraits, figure studies and photographs of her people, ceremonies, and culture. At the age of 20, Kali moved back north to spend time with her Elders, and to learn how to hunt, fish, trap, tan moose and caribou hides, and bead. Throughout Kali’s career she has documented traditional practices with a sense of urgency, highlighting their vital cultural significance.

Kali’s work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally including, Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time at the Hudson River Museum (2025), Returning Home: A Contemporary Native Photography Exhibition at The Bard College, In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2023), and Speaking With Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (2023).

**Excerpt from *The Daily Self-Portrait* series by Lisa Elmeleh | 8x10” view camera & black and white film**

Lisa Elmeleh | @elmalayheehoo | lisaelmaleh.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

This image, selected from Lisa’s series of daily self-portraits made with an 8x10” camera, evokes a quiet yet charged scene as the artist is largely obscured from view beneath a blanket, save for one arm emerging somewhat stiffly to produce an American flag draping downward. The artist began the series as a form of ritual penance to be completed after slipping into a depression, forcing herself to engage in a creative yet labor intensive self-reflection. Though made in 2012, it maintains a poignant relevance to the queer experience in this country today, where so many feel forced to hide or disguise aspects of our identities in order to survive.

Artist Biography:

Lisa Elmaleh (Guggenheim Fellow, 2024) is an American visual artist, educator, and documentarian based in Hampshire County, West Virginia. She specializes in large-format work in tintype, glass negative, and celluloid film. Since 2007, she has been traveling across the US documenting American landscapes, life, and culture.

Born in Miami, Florida (1984), Lisa completed a BFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2007, during which time she was awarded the Silas Rhodes Scholarship. Upon graduating, she received the prestigious Tierney Fellowship to work on a project that evolved into an in-depth visual documentation of the impact of climate change on the Everglades. The culmination of this project resulted in a book titled Everglades published in 2016 by Zatara Press.

Lisa's work has been exhibited nationwide and recognized by the Arnold Newman Prize, the Aaron Siskind Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation, among others. Her work has been published by Harper's Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, CNN, The New York Times, National Geographic, Oxford American, Garden & Gun, and NPR, among others.

**“Yucky” by Luke Kraman | Hasselblad 203fe & Kodak Portra 120 film**

Luke Kraman | @lukerss | lukekraman.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

There is a definite sense of connection and intimacy in this portrait of Yucky, whose creative friendship with the artist clearly informs the palpable dynamic between both queer subject and photographer. Set seemingly at the margins of any civilization that might lurk nearby, this image gives off vibes of queer anachronism – timeless, liminal, and infinite in its combination of aesthetics. It feels entirely untethered from past, present, or future, existing in a space all its own that offers a glimpse into unfettered queer possibility.

Artist Biography:

Luke Kraman (b. 1989, Brooklyn, NY) is a San Francisco-based analog photographer known for his intimate, raw portraits and explorations of modern queer life. Educated at the University of Southern California, where he graduated in Film and Television Production, Kraman’s background in cinematic arts shapes his distinct approach to photography.

His images delve into the liminal and contrasting elements of queer identity and expression, examining the space between vulnerability and power, individuality and community, and the ephemeral nature of nightlife with the lasting impressions it leaves on culture. His subjects, drawn from the queer demimonde —including drag artists, DJs, trans icons, and club personalities—embody these contrasts, offering a kaleidoscopic view of queer existence.

His debut solo exhibition, Final Selects One (MRKT Gallery, 2024), along with his contributions to significant group shows like Something Personal (APA SF) and Dirt Rich (Rosebud Gallery), establish his work as both a testament to and refuge from the challenges faced by queer communities. His work has been featured in prominent publications such as The British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Humanity Vol 5 and Pamplemousse Magazine’s The Human Issue, with additional recognition through the prestigious shortlisting, the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2023.

Raised in Brooklyn, Kraman’s people-watching instincts are deeply ingrained, as he seeks to capture his subjects’ unguarded, candid states. His portraits invite viewers to engage with the calm acceptance of those moments, offering a quiet resistance to societal pressures and a celebration of queer identity as powerful, complex, and ever-evolving.

**“Emily” by Michael Espinoza | 1998 Polaroid Cool Cam, Polaroid 600 Film & Cotton Embroidery (cross-stitch)**

Michael Espinoza | @michaelespinozaart | michaelespinozaart.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

Michael’s work is a unique experience. It exists as a material and visual language unto itself that speaks to the formation of public and private personas, especially in the context of queer survival and intimacy. The immediacy of Polaroid film contrasted with the slow, patient work of cross-stitch, both interrupts and disallows the viewer’s perception of the scene in its entirety. I’ve been lucky to see this body of work in person and it is a tender, loving homage to our community’s culture and our ancestors.

Artist Biography:

Michael Espinoza is a non-binary, multi-racial, multi-disciplinary artist whose work embodies and embraces the undone artistic practices of Queer Ancestors lost to persecution, disease, fatal sadness, and closets. Their current practice utilizes embroidery, quilting, digital media, sculpture, and photography to explore sex and sexuality, intersectional identities, intimacy, the body, and contact with the dead. They have previously exhibited live performance, site-specific installation, and video. Their work can be found in public art collections, digital spaces, domestic and international group shows, and the many spaces intended for queer joy. Their first solo exhibition, “Instant Gratification”, opened at Strut in San Francisco’s Castro District in September, 2024.

**“Mendocino 5” from the series *My Turn to Wear the Horns* by Michael Starkman**
**5x7 K. B. Canham field camera with vintage Kodak 305mm soft-focus portrait lens & Ilford HP5+ film**

Michael Starkman | michaelstarkman.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

This image from Michael’s self-portrait series feels like an opened portal to a wild realm. Though the viewer may not understand the intentional act this horned figure is engaged in, a sense of reverence and connection to the divine permeates the scene. The softened aesthetic imbued by the choice of lens gives it a dreamy, otherworldly feel, while the forked shape of both the subject’s horns and his offering recalls the form of divining rods used to seek hidden resources. Perhaps this beast, under gently draping canopy light, has reached out for some wisdom or ancient power that will help him on his journey. The images in this series were made in various Northern California forests and are finalized as contact prints.

Artist Biography:

Michael Starkman lives and works in San Francisco and prints in his basement darkroom. He makes art to embrace the holiness of place, the power of ritual, and wonder in the everyday.

**Detail from the mural "The Caresses of Your Bullying, 2023” by Néstor Daniel Pérez Molière | Chemigram process**

Néstor Daniel Pérez-Molière | @ndpmoliere | ndpmoliere.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

Ever since seeing Néstor tease some images from his mural in progress “The Caresses of Your Bullying” on Instagram some time ago, I have been in awe of his use of cameraless techniques to create a visceral language all his own. The full piece is made up of both chemigram and lumen prints, and this particular chemigram stood out to me for the sense of depth and strong narrative elements that it contains, even as it maintains a level of abstraction. It finds an aesthetically effective way to comment on complex issues that we face as queer people, such as mental health conditions and stigma.

Artist Biography:

Néstor Pérez-Molière was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently resides in The Bronx, New York. His art entails a process of self-discovery; a series of confessionals revealing private conflicts; hoping towards catharsis. Through this cathartic process he hopes to connect with the viewer’s struggles and depathologize negative feelings so that they can be seen as a source for political action rather than its antithesis. Néstor exposes mental health issues like depression, dysmorphia, food addictions, and loneliness: describing their mechanisms, scrutinizing their origins, and illuminating the impossibility of fixing them. His practice mainly takes place in the realm of photography but has also incorporated performance, drawing, video, installation, and intaglio techniques into his works.

He received an MFA from Hunter College and holds a BSc in Botany. He was part of EmergeNYC 2023, Artist in the Marketplace 2017, and Creative Capital’s Taller 2019 mentorship programs, and was included in The Bronx Museum of the Art’s Fourth Biennial. He has exhibited at the Museo de las Américas, the Clemente Soto Vélez, Bronx Art Space, Longwood Gallery, and the Liga de Estudiantes de Artes de San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2023 he will be a resident at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Governors Island Arts Center and Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts residencies. Interested in becoming an educator, he teaches, and has taught, digital and darkroom photography, as well as media literacy at the International Center of Photography, Parsons School of Design, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Fairleigh Dickinson University, THE POINT CDC, and StrudelMediaLive.

**“we make a flower” by Pia-Paulina Guilmoth | Toyo 45D 4x5 camera & Arista 400 film**

Pia-Paulina Guilmoth | @p_guilmoth | pguilmoth.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I am pretty much always floored by Pia-Paulina’s images when I see them. There is such a divine quality to the feel of her photographs that might only be explained as a kind of trans magic she is able to harness in the world as she works. Using large format cameras to embrace a slower mode of seeing, Pia-Paulina creates images that speak to her experience as a trans woman in rural Maine, often conjuring up hidden queer utopias just slightly out of reach. Part of the series “Flowers Drink the River,” this photograph was made using a technique the artist uses to catch spiderwebs, which she then dusted with crushed mica powder before photographing it using custom lens filters for a truly ethereal vision of community and connection to the earth.

Artist Biography:

Pia-Paulina Guilmoth lives and makes art in rural central Maine. In her free time she likes to lay in the dirt, shoot guns, hold her friends, and trespass into abandoned houses and barns. Pia’s work is foremost about harnessing beauty as a form of resistance to a world full of terrors. While making art she is thinking about class, gender, euphoria, dysphoria and whatever else is happening in her life at that given moment. She currently has a solo exhibition open at CLAMP Gallery in New York City, and Pia released her third book in November 2024 with Stanley/Barker titled Flowers Drink the River. She was a 2022 Macdowell Fellow in Visual Arts, and is a 2024 winner of the Aperture Creator Labs Fund, and the Peter Reed Foundation Grant in Photography.

**“FL in Her Barn” from the series *Queering Rural Spaces* by Sarah Stellino | Chamonix 4x5 Camera & Ilford Delta 100 Film**

Sarah Stellino | @sarahstellinophoto | sarahstellinophoto.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

By combining large format photography with the goal of illuminating the fuller story around the makeup of small town America, Sarah’s images hold a quiet honesty in her approach. Her series Queering Rural Spaces challenges longstanding assumptions about who is able to thrive outside of urban regions, as well as about the folks who work in agricultural and related fields. This particular portrait of FL in her barn exudes a self-assuredness from its subject, who describes her gender as “butch” and identifies as a dyke who has built up a veggie and cut flower farm business in southern Wisconsin.

Artist Biography:

Sarah Stellino was born in 1992 in Madison, Wisconsin, where she resides with her wife and one-year-old son. Her photographs explore topics of intimacy, identity, and legacy. As a gay woman, she was deeply impacted by the power of seeing one's identity reflected in a photograph. From this experience, she is driven by a deep sense of the importance of record-keeping and legacy-making and the impact that can have on future generations. She was a 2022 and 2024 Women Artists Forward Fund Finalist and has exhibited work in New York City and Madison, Wisconsin. Using a large format camera has been instrumental in her artistic practice, and she feels strongly about giving back to the community by teaching an Introduction to Large Format class at her local photography organization.

**“Titleholders at the Eagle LA, 2023” by Steven Harwick**
**Toyo-View C 4x5, Calumet Cambridge Caltar II-E 150mm f/6.3 & Kodak Portra 400 film**

Steven Harwick | @boundleatherzine | stevenharwick.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

I really appreciate Steven’s sensibility in honoring the traditions of queer fetish imagery while simultaneously bringing these aesthetics up to date by ensuring broader equity and inclusion in his subjects. Though all clad in a seeming uniform of white tank tops and shades of denim, this motley lineup of Los Angeles titleholders maintains a timeless, rugged feel. Ever a sucker for imperfection, I find the ambiance added by the slight light leaks on the film quite intriguing. In their best moments, the tradition of title competitions held across varying communities are reflective of a commitment to inclusion, mentorship, and education in queer spaces.

Artist Biography:

Steven Harwick is a multidisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn, NY. His practice utilizes photography, video, installation, sculpture, and collage to highlight identity, obsession, subversions, and perversions. His self-published zine, Bound Leather, demonstrates the central focus of his project work: to pull from cultural history and traditional fetish imagery while simultaneously subverting those standards by showcasing an array of people systematically excluded from the long-established canon. Originally started as a means of exploring and documenting the contemporary leather and BDSM communities through a photographic lens, the publication has grown in scope and scale over time. Harwick has exhibited domestically and internationally, as well as selling out the first two editions of his monograph. He holds a BFA from Pratt Institute.

**“Ellipsis” by Wayne Bund from the series *The Bathers* | Holga camera & 120 black and white film**

Wayne Bund | @bundlandia | waynecbund.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

This image is a gorgeous rendition of a queer body that feels at home in its natural environment. Engaged in the ritual of washing following a soak in the healing waters at a Radical Faerie Gathering at Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort in Oregon, the soft-focus of the artist’s Holga camera creates a serene atmosphere. Wayne’s series The Bathers reveals intimate moments experienced in queer spaces that seek to foster connection and spiritual exploration outside the public eye.

Artist Biography:

Wayne Bund is a photographer, writer, and drag queen. He was raised on a farm in Boring, Oregon. He positions his camera to document people and systems - real and fictional - forging historical records. He crafts images that exist outside of normative structures, prioritizing feminist and queer agendas. His photographs highlight, obscure, and erase the body to celebrate the weird and the magical. He has worked as a professional photographer for 15 years and has photographed Jinkx Monsoon for Vogue Magazine. His work has shown at Seattle Art Museum, PICA, the Q-Center, and PNCA. He has received grants from the Ford Family Foundation, WESTAF Foundation, the Oregon Arts Commission, and RACC. He studied at Pacific Northwest College of Art where he got his MFA. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He is a Pisces with a Virgo Moon and a Scorpio Rising.

**“Junior Mintt taking us to church” by Zac Thompson | Kodak FunSaver Disposable 35mm Camera**

Zac Thompson | @zacrilegious | zacthompsonart.com

Commentary from Nathan Lomas:

Though I honestly don’t know much more about this specific image than the title we are given, I am already instantly transported to that moment. This image has everything; the dollar bills flying (tip your queens, y’all!), shimmering gold cross adorning Junior Mintt’s outfit, two-tone eyeshadow, and dangling pearl earrings all frozen in a high energy scene. Coming from a religious upbringing myself, I am always moved when queer artists and performers can transcend those sometimes harmful origins and spin them into expressions of joy and creativity. Zac’s use of lo-fi, snapshot aesthetics are a true testament to the fact that the gear isn’t everything; sometimes the most unassuming cameras can afford the most powerful, raw moments.

Artist Biography:

Zac Thompson has been documenting Brooklyn’s queer and trans community through disposable cameras since 2017. Their ongoing archive, now exceeding 4,000 images, serves as a deeply personal family album—one that celebrates queer joy while challenging traditional notions of home, family, and gender shaped by their religious upbringing. Originally from Colorado Springs, CO, and raised in Florida and south Georgia, Zac earned a BFA in Drawing from the University of Florida and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. They are currently an artist and arts worker based in Brooklyn, NY.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Nathan Lomas (he/they, b. 1986) is an American photographic artist whose work engages with themes of queerness, identity, mental health, and social politics. Their work seeks to prioritize queer joy and healing while also giving voice to queer grief and struggle. He holds an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and a BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Currently living in San Francisco, they use a wide variety of imaging techniques to investigate their anxieties and identity, and frequently collaborate with members of the LGBTQIA2+ community to create vulnerable portraits. He has taught photography at Academy of Art University San Francisco as an adjunct professor and has been an instructor, production, and gallery manager at The Image Flow Photography Center in San Anselmo, California for the past ten years. He also instituted Queer Conscience, an annual juried exhibition focused on providing a platform for queer photographic artists.

Connect with Nathan on their Website and on Instagram!