Mark Seliger’s ‘On Christopher Street’ portraits

Famed photographer Mark Seliger currently has an exhibition on display at the Von Lintel Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition, named “On Christopher Street,” is a series of black and white photographs taken in the West Village in New York City. The photos all feature transgender individuals with the “intent of celebrating diversity, inclusion and equal protection of all human beings.”

Christopher Street is known as a safe haven for all sexual orientation and gender identities. It is home to Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, and was recently designated by President Obama as the first national moment to honor the LGBTQ civil rights movement. It is on Christopher Street that one can be themselves– transgender, transsexual, non-binary, genderqueer, femme, butch, cross-dresser, drag king or queen, and other gender identities and sexual orientations that challenge social norms.

The project is a series of 72 portraits of transgender people with a series of accompanying stories on each of the individuals featured.  On Christopher Street is a 160-page black-and-white coffee table book where the photos tell a story about transgender people.

“The more that we understand, the more that we got those fears down, the more that that tolerance spreads into everything” says the photographer. Mr. Seliger’s subjects were “thrilled at the prospect of finally being recognized and having their existence validated.” The gallery exhibition features these same photos.

Ten percent of each sale will benefit Support.fm, a crowd-funding platform that helps trans and gender non-conforming people.

Seliger is a celebrated photographer who has lived in the West Village for 20 years. His work has appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, GQ, among others, where he primary photographs celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts and Sean Penn.

The photos are featured at the Von Lintel Gallery which is known for its “discerning curatorial point of view and unique works that are forward-thinking and challenging while maintaining a strong sense of aesthetic tradition.” The gallery focuses on artists who “quietly push the boundaries of medium and materiality.”

“On Christopher Street” by Mark Seliger is on display from Jan. 14 through Feb. 25.  The opening reception was held on Jan. 14 hosting many of the models featured in the works.

See: Vonlintel.com, located at 2685 S. La Cienega, Los Angeles.