filthiest person alive

Ann-Margret on her personal Triumph motorcycle, 1966

Attendees of the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, September 1969.

Christer Strömholm’s 1950s-60s photos of Parisian trans women are so gripping for me because they celebrate the materiality of trans life during an era when trans people supposedly didn't exist. Although we know little about the women, he titled each piece with their respective name.

Strömholm mastered chiaroscuro and who better to focus on than subjects that could light up any room? Rather than centering the quotidian horrors of midcentury trans existence (as most contemporaneous artists did), the series reflects on love, laughter, and everyday life.