Photos of trans people at the Ryerson Image Centre

While I’m on the subject of photo exhibits and trans folks’ compulsive need to be photographed, the often Covid-delayed, exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre at Ryerson University in Toronto sounds interesting. On until August 6, 2022, it’s called Mauvais Genre/Under Cover: A Secret History of Cross-Dressers. This seems to me a somewhat misleading title since it’s comprised of over 160 amateur photographs collected from flea markets and other assorted purveyors of old photos and taken by unknown photographers of unknown trans people. Maybe they’re not cross-dressing at all. Nonetheless, it’s an intriguing collection assembled by Sébastien Lifshitz, who also serves as guest curator for the exhibit. Besides being a collector of photographs, Lifshitz is a film director. Some of his films include “Wild Side (2004), which features a trans heroine and Bambi (2013), a documentary about France’s most celebrated trans woman.”