Before the Name #2
Introdution
In early 2026, I met two new friends in Thailand and invited them to spend an afternoon with me. One of these new friends happens to be a transgender man.
Once I started taking photos of them, I realized that I have always been configuring people first through the lens of gender, before I begin interpreting their bodies. So I tried to let go of this way of looking. Through their acts of touching, gazing, and leaning against each other, I wanted their bodies to return to their own intimacies—to their process of trust and companionship, rather than to stand in as markers of gender expression.
What moved me that afternoon was their individual presence and the natural relationship between them. Perhaps true freedom does not come from escaping gender, but from the ability to be loved and understood regardless of any gender.
Comment From the Judge :
Victoria Hsu
With an extremely gentle visual language, this work captures a touching embrace between a transgender man and a cisgender man. The imagery returns to the fundamentals of human connection: touch, gaze, and trust.
Starting from the artist’s former habit of “seeing people’s gender before their bodies,” the work ultimately makes a profound shift in perspective through observing the intimate relationship between the two individuals.
This is more than a visual record. It is also a release from conventional ideas about body and love. This work reminds us that gender should not be the standard by which we define or judge a body. Only when living bodies are no longer restricted by gender stereotypes, and are allowed to return to intimacy and companionship, can love then flow freely.
This work is emotionally delicate and thoughtful, and deeply moving.