Artist Statement

Trans Royalty is an ongoing photographic exhibition by transgender photographer Leon Mostovoy. Featuring portraits of transgender, gender-expansive, intersex, and nonbinary people, the project centers trans couples, trans youth, and community elders—individuals whose lives and contributions are too often misrepresented, marginalized, or excluded from public view. Begun in November 2025, the exhibition affirms the richness, dignity, and complexity of trans life while creating a lasting visual record of a community whose presence is both historically rooted and urgently contemporary. Through intimate, large-scale portraiture, each subject is represented with authenticity, strength, and grace, embodying a sense of royalty grounded in self-definition and collective resilience.