Artist Statement

Transgender Headlines is a photographic series by transgender photographer Leon Mostovoy that examines the collision between personal visibility and public discourse through portraits of transgender individuals set against collaged news articles from 2024 to the present. Bringing together subjects across generations, cultures, and economic circumstances, the work reflects the broader engagement with portraiture, identity, and public representation, inviting viewers to consider how media language shapes, distorts, and contests transgender experience while affirming resilience, dignity, and belonging within contemporary culture.

This photographic series begins with a portrait of a transgender model and develops through research into news coverage that resonates with the model’s lived experience. I collect articles around a specific issue, then cut and collage them to construct the background. I layer the portrait over this field of fragmented media, bringing the individual into direct conversation with the narratives that shape how transgender lives are represented.

Although there is a shared trans experience, each photograph is paired with a model whose age, profession, or personal history reflects the context of the accompanying news articles.