This first solo exhibition from Boston-born photographer Samuel Liebert draws on his passion for London’s fringe cultures, with an introduction to Glyn Fussell, co-founder of London’s transexual club night “Sink the Pink”.
This kinship allowed Liebert to mingle within a ‘family’ of transvestites and photograph them without trepidation, therefore forming a direct engagement with his subjects away from the outlandish performances they are usually associated with.
These 14 large-scale intimate portraits are stripped of colour and show the subjects at rest. A series of emotions play out among them, from the subdued to the jubilant. They are neither glamorised nor demoralised but show a pride in their own sub-culture.
Samuel Liebert's All that Glitters is on at The Cob Gallery, 205 Royal College Street, London, NW1 0SG. 7-20 December 2012. Entrance is free, but 20% of all sale proceeds go to The Terence Higgins Trust.
By Ezelle Alblas
