The Spectrum of Beauty

Members of the queer community project their rich and real selves in Anusha Yadav’s photographs. Lajja Shah is Transfixed.

- Lajja Shah

As we scroll through the inaugural show in Chemould Prescott Road’s online viewing room, we are held in thrall by the direct and unflinching gaze of the sixteen subjects who are part of a series of staged portraits by photographer Anusha Yadav. Conceived as an “ode to uniqueness in ideas of beauty and feminine expression,” the pithy, if rather literally titled, Transfixed, on view from the 30th of November to the 31st of December, features individuals from the queer community, specifically those belonging to the born-male subculture who choose to affirm and celebrate the feminine aspects of their identity through visible markers like items of female clothing, cosmetics and accessories. In the note accompanying the show, Yadav emphasizes the collaborative nature of the project that involved sitters who opted for the way in which they wished to dress and be represented; the silhouettes and the backgrounds were determined by her at the postproduction stage. She also makes clear her position as a cisgender woman and an ally.