Charlie White

I’ve seen some of Charlie White’s work in the past, like his Alien at a Cocktail Party photos… and so I was completely unprepared for the sublime power of his 2008 Teen and Transgender Comparative Study photographs.

In these images he pairs teenage girls and pre-op transwomen, two people both “becoming women.” The pairs look so similar it’s surprising they aren’t related, which, in fact, was my first thought. You can’t exactly guess what’s up, and through the uncertainty so many aspects of gender flow through your mind.

For me, this work is easily the most compelling of White’s oeuvre.