As LGBTQ+ History Month draws to a close, it feels like a good time to look not only at the past but at who is shaping the present. Queer history is constantly being made, and these six contemporary photographers are part of that story. Here are six artists to enrich your feed:
Mengwen Cao
The Chinese-born, New York-based photographer, artist and educator Mengwen Cao creates work that is built around the philosophy of tenderness as a form of resistance. Their long-running series Liminal Space documents queer people of colour in New York in scenes of cooking, resting and simply enjoying existence together as a contrast to images of queer life that too often centre trauma or spectacle.
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Kito Muñoz
Hailing from Cádiz, Muñoz came to prominence through his collaboration with Filip Ćustić; together they worked as art directors, photographers and stylists for publications including GQ UK and A Magazine. Now based in Paris, his fashion photography is theatrical and playful, integrating surrealist references to explore masculinity and sensuality.
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Jess T. Dugan
An artist and writer whose work explores the complexities of personal relationships, Dugan makes portraits that are stripped back and intimate, using natural light. Their series To Survive on This Shore, made in collaboration with social worker Vanessa Fabbre, is a portrait archive of transgender and gender nonconforming people over fifty across the US.
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Vic Lentaigne
A photographer and filmmaker based in London, Lentaigne has been making work involving the LGBTQ+ community since 2010. Shooting on analogue film, she builds close relationships with her subjects, creating space for honest expressions of gender fluidity and queer identity. Lentaigne’s lockdown project documenting lesbian couples across London marks one of her most celebrated bodies of work.
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Laurence Philomene
Philomene is a Canadian non-binary photographer whose work focuses on portraits and self-portraits that challenge binary notions of gender, allowing for vulnerable and cheerful explorations of trans identity. Their book Puberty, published in 2022, documents two years of their own gender transition through daily self-portraits, handwritten notes and a notable use of pastel colour.
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Pia-Paulina Guilmoth
A working class transgender woman living in rural central Maine, Guilmoth makes nocturnal, large-format photographs of her chosen family and the natural world around her. Her 2024 book Flowers Drink the River traces the first two years of her gender transition, shooting almost entirely after dark as both a creative choice and a practical one.
