“I love who I am and my soul, and it feels more and more like my outside is meeting that inside feeling,” says Russell, who was 24 and living in Madison, Wisconsin when he was photographed by Soraya Zaman for their new book, American Boys. The quote appears next to photos of his sandy mane blowing in the breeze by the water, then portraits of him posing by a statue of an angel, outside under a tree, and finally standing over the shoreline on a bundle of wood, shirtless and proudly displaying scars from his top surgery.
Russell is just one of nearly 30 people featured in American Boys, a project in which Zaman traveled coast to coast to chronicle a range of presentation of transmasculine identity across the U.S. In small towns and big cities alike, people sat for Zaman’s lens in the comfort of their environments: Elias in the light of his window, Shane crossing a Los Angeles street, Amari resting near train tracks, Aodhàn in a field of sunflowers, Steve climbing high onto rocks, and so many more.
The book offers a window into an admittedly limited slice of American transmasculinity. As Zaman mentions, not everyone, some of their subjects included, has interest in or access to surgery and/or testosterone; for the purposes of the book the hormone is only mentioned to frame the passage of time, and to be honest about the fact that their subjects may look different now than when first photographed. “I do hope that if trans and non-binary people buy this book and can’t ‘see’ themselves in any of the images, that they can find shared experience in the stories,” Zaman said.
American Boys was the first extended personal project of Zaman’s photography career, one that has also included fashion and beauty photography for the likes of H&M, Public School New York, gender-fluid clothing line Collina Strada, and more. In their personal work, Zaman, who identifies as non-binary, has always been interested in exploring queer sexuality and gender; they hope that American Boys will be just one more opportunity to bring conversations about gender and sexuality to the fore through photography. them. spoke to Zaman about internalized ideas about boyhood, gender inclusivity, identity narratives, and more.
How did American Boys come to be?
In my mind, I always wanted this work to be a book but I had no idea what bringing it to life would entail, that it would take four years since beginning to finally hold the book in my hands. It has been a lot of work and sacrifice, but I’m so grateful for the process and everyone I’ve met and everything I’ve learned. I’ve always believed that taking these images and stories out of online platforms and creating something more permanent was important. To have them collated in a book that can mark a moment in time and this particular time, that has seen a surge of transmasculine identity narratives, is meaningful.
How did you first arrive at the idea?
This project had a humble beginning back in the summer of 2016, before trans identity erasure became a political flashpoint with things like the trans military ban. I wanted to engage in image making that was personal to me and start to explore different expressions of transmasculinity. With every new person I met and photographed, the project became bigger. It became apparent that honoring and sharing stories, validating and centering everyone in a positive and uplifting way, was necessary and important.
What was the process of finding portrait subjects?
I discovered everyone in this project through Instagram. I mostly sorted out people who were using their online platform to express what was happening in their lives in an interesting way. To me they were natural storytellers, with a willingness to share for good or bad. That resonated with me. I reached out over DM to see if they were interested and shared some of the images I had already taken. I have a map of the US above my desk and I tried as best as I could to reach out to people from all over the country so there would be representation not just from major cities, but also smaller towns. I saw this as an important part of the process, to feature transmasculine lives all over the country, to not just represent people who live in New York and LA and other places typically thought of as queer hubs. To me, there is an extra level of bravery required to live and exist as a trans person in smaller towns where community and safety can be harder to find.
What did you want your images to say about the transmasculine community that hadn't been said before?
These are affirmative images of everyone featured that show a glimpse into their lives, their personality, honesty, humor, beauty, vulnerability, strength, and more. I want these images and the essays that accompany each series, to inform and expand upon understandings of gender identity outside of the binary in a real and authentic way. Everyone featured was photographed in and around where they live and in their own clothes. They decided many of the locations we took pictures in. It was very much a collaboration with each person.
How was the title chosen?
The title came to me before I had even taken my first image. American Boys is an intentional call-out to this nostalgic, internalized idea of American boyhood and the notion that masculinity belongs exclusively to cis men. It unpacks the belief that gender identity must align with one’s sex assigned at birth and I also hope it allows people to look and challenge the way they themselves perceive traditional binary gender roles.
How did you go about developing a diverse representation of trans individuals in the book?
I think it is very important for trans and non-binary people to see themselves represented in mainstream media in a diverse way, and a way that doesn’t feel tokenistic. To be acknowledged, recognized, centered, and celebrated because we live in a world that only recognizes two genders is important as these rigid binary ideologies are oppressive and toxic. The 29 people captured in this work is the smallest fraction of an incredibly diverse community, so I personally tread carefully in using the word “diverse.” I do hope, that if trans and non-binary people buy this book and can’t ‘see’ themselves in any of the images, that they can find shared experience in the stories. I would love to do a second book and expand upon this work and continue to tell more stories and celebrate transmasculine identities because there is so much more to share.
What did you hope to capture in each portrait?
A lot of them have said that since I met and photographed them, some almost 3 years ago now, their understandings of their identity has shifted and changed. Many of them look physically different too. The book captures each person at a specific moment in time in their transition. I think that is really a special part of this book. I’ve started to run Instagram story takeovers, giving the platform to people featured for the day and some have chosen to take this opportunity to discuss how they have changed. It adds another level of expansion to the whole story.
There's great power in choosing what you place in front of your lens. What did you want to do with that power with this project?
The most important part to me was to make sure everyone was featured in a way that truly reflects them. I’m constantly trying to think about ways I can continue to center and lift everyone up. I hope that I have achieved that because that is the real power. I think any viewer of this work could potentially see through misrepresentation and fakeness, which would take away the power of these images.
How did the book affect your own relationship with gender?
I think when I started this work I didn’t fully appreciate how much it would inform my own understanding of my gender and the power in it and I am so thankful for that. I am proud to be non-binary, to use they/them pronouns and I now look to bring this into everything I do in some way. It’s a goal of mine to constantly challenge the photography industry to consider and embrace genders outside of cis-gender. That true inclusivity is having representation not only in front of the camera but across all aspects of the industry from photographers, design teams, stylists, glam crews, art directors, producers, editors, writers and so on. Hire trans and non-binary people because of their identity and also in spite of it. Hire them because they are the best person for the job and also because being gender inclusive is necessary and valuable. That is what true inclusivity looks like.
Interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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