Inside The Photography Book Honoring The American Transmasculine Community

By Sara Radin


Ten years prior, Soraya Zaman left real estate to pursue their passion for photography full-time. “I determined I was done making prosperous people richer,” they tell MTV News now.


With a camera as their singular companion, they traveled to Cairo, Mongolia, and behind. Upon realizing their lens could help them locate the power in their own elaborate identity, the Australian-born creative moved to New York and started working for various brands as a style photographer.


Three years prior, Zaman determined to dig a little bit deeper and investigate something rather personalized to them: gender expression and the experience of being trans or non-binary. “There was shared commonality in a lot of the stories that I would hear about trans people growing up, and there was also a lack of transmasculine representation in media,” they mention now.


In 2016, they started connecting with people on Instagram and saving up cash so they could travel and document the stories of transmasculine individuals from across the United States. The self-funded project — which brought Zaman to 29 differents cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Hollywood, and Seattle — is currently being published as a photography book, titled American Boys, and will release on April 2, 2019.


It wasn’t initially their intention to spend four years of their life creating the book. But, they explain, “As I met and photographed more people, it really became apparent to me how essential what I was doing in celebrating and validating these individuals.” Via method of orchestrating these shoots, they also involving the individual and critical stories within everyone they photographed; before they knew it, the project, which right now has over 13,000 followers on Instagram, had become something much bigger than they ever anticipated.


The photographs show trans boys ages 18 to 35 at various stages of their transition, existing in various spaces including their homes and public places. Zaman aimed to present the diverse spectrum of transmasculine experiences, and enlisted each subject to pen a personalized reflection on their experience in being trans, which ultimately puts humanity and tenderness front and center.  It was also critical to Zaman to highlight and support people who didn’t necessarily stay in cities like New York or Los Angeles, or other cities believed “queer hubs.”


In the introductory pages of the book, Zaman explores ways in which The world wide web and social media have helped spread awareness about identities behind the binaries, creating safe spaces for young people to share their identity stories and transitions as they unfold. For this reason, Zaman purposely published the portraits alongside each subject’s Instagram nickname. The book also features a map of Zaman’s journey, plus a historical timeline of notable LGBTQ+ events, like the initial time the word “homosexuality” was used in The New York Times in 1926, and the Stonewall Riots of 1969.


As for the photographs, Zaman conducted the shoots mainly in the summertime as it has “the best light and energy.” While in the process, they also noticed that it was essential to honor and resemble the subjects authentically. So they made a conscious task to get to know everyone before photographing them by first having a trustworthy conversation in which both photographer and subject could share their experiences as trans individuals. “I recorded almost every conversation and spent hours sitting and hanging out with them, asking them about their lives, journey, relationships and, friends,” they explain to MTV News over the phone.


The images are a visual testament to the intimacy Soraya was able to achieve through connecting with their subjects so deeply. As an example, Justin, a student in Richmond, Virginia, was shot a week right after having top surgery, which made it hard for him to move around physically. “Soraya is a wonderful photographer, they made me feel at ease and very comfortable,” he tells MTV News. For Justin, the raw photographs of his chest healing are still very powerful. “It shows the physical demand it took for me to be myself.”


As soon as it came to choosing a location for each shoot, Zaman gave each subject the possibility to pick several places that felt personalized to them, resulting in images shot in their bedrooms, local restaurants, and parks. Steven, a 18-year-old living in South Dakota who was photographed in nature, says the project helped him realize he was capable of things he had never considered, helping him feel more free to be himself.


“Now, Whenever I look at myself in the reflect, I feel as if I’ve loved myself the most I ever have,” Steven says.


Elias, who is captured both in his bedroom and at a restaurant, says that participating made him feel cute. “The images are key for transmasc folks who don’t routinely get to be around people like them,” he adds.


Thomas, a 27-year-old artist and musician from Athens, Georgia, says that whenever he is no stranger to the camera, the shoot was raw and made him feel as if he was segment of something bigger than himself, something he noticed to be especially profound since he never saw positive representations of trans people as a young person. “I overcame my anxieties fueled by fear of self-expression, and did it so others could maybe relate and if they can’t then maybe they can at least visualize, if not understand, a different perspective,” the artist states over email.


One commonality Zaman discovered along the journey of this project was that several of the subjects had initially come out as gay, lesbian, or bi before transitioning. “Ultimately this didn’t routinely feel right because this doesn’t inform one's gender identity,” they note. Accordingly, they mention that several of the subjects had to have a second “coming out” as trans, which would be because of the ways in which society tends to don't think about the diversity of gender identities while also misunderstanding the distinctions between sexuality and gender.


Any time Zaman set out to create this body of work, they didn’t realize how much the practice would inform their own understanding of gender and the power inherent in it. “I certainly developed a greater appreciation for the bravery and strength it takes to truly embrace who you are, especially once that identity exists outdoor of society’s cis heteronormative landscape,” they say.


To them, the project serves as a challenge to the photography industry, and the complete of society, to embrace the expansiveness of gender outdoors of the customary norm. It’s also a work of affirmation: “I feel like a lot of people will have the ability to relate and learn from the book and that it's a positive contribution to [seeing] gender outdoors of a binary.”


For more data on issues affecting the trans community, visit trans.Mtv.Com.