Enakai Cutting Their Hair

“The Outliers” series began when photographer Elle Pérez visited a “Faerie” sanctuary in rural Tennessee for seekers of radical queer community. Pérez was inspired there by people freely embracing identities between and beyond the male/female gender binary. “I found reading the stories and seeing the faces of others who were like me to be extremely important in my own self-identification and maturing process,” the artist has said. Later that year, Pérez set out across the United States to meet and document young people who identify as genderqueer. While making their portraits, Pérez took time to connect with subjects and learn their personal histories. Printing the results in sumptuous color, Pérez emphasizes the particularized beauty ofeach person and of the objects and environments through which they self-define.