Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1024601
Lia Clay "I've always wanted to be a fashion photographer," Lia Clay says with childlike conviction. True to form, she was only a kid when photographs of her grandmother's cross-country travels captivated the young ingénue. "She had an old Olympus camera, and I was this stubborn eight-year-old interested in the new toy. She said I was too young to figure it out, so of course I picked it up and started taking pictures." Now, Clay is perhaps the most commercially successful trans photographer working in fashion. Like most pioneers, Clay must be clever: carrying the weight of representation while evading the box people want to put her in. "Being a trans photographer, I'm always having to preface my work with being a trans woman first and a photographer second." Clay puts her practice first, delivering portraits that exude empowerment and ease from her queer and trans subjects. One such example is a recent cover story for The Cut, where she shot High Maintenance co-creator Katja Blichfeld. In the image, the showrunner's brazen, direct gaze penetrates Clay's empathetic lens. For Clay, empowerment must extend behind the lens as well. "I'm really adamant about creating a more inclusive set environment. My first assistant is another trans woman, and I want to use her until the day I die." Growing serious, Clay adds, "When I walk through doors in this industry, I have to be aware that I'm not only walking through doors for myself, but for other trans photographers. It's not just a personal endeavor." Currently, Clay is focusing on personal projects outside of her fashion commissions. It is deeply important that this body of work can exist outside the instrumentalization of trans bodies by the fashion industry and the media outlets that she regularly shoots for. "Every photographer goes through the need to separate their personal from their commercial work. My personal work is about being entirely in control. I'm a Taurus—I have to control things." 166 culturedmag.com BOTH IMAGES: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST. Clay's Ita in Prospect Park, 2018, epitomizes the ease and warmth that the photographer elicits from her queer and trans subjects.