Je est une autre

He strikes a pose and the man disappears. He offers his own body an usually forbidden grace. He is standing right up, or sometimes displays the beginning of a curve. A way to hold himself. A naked leg uncovered. A hand on the ankle. Colors on his face. And that oscillating and meditative look, sometimes staring right at you, daydreaming – to be everywhere except here - or challenging : Look at me straight in the eye if you dare. Everyone is waiting for an echo. « Am I the woman you have in mind ? » Sabrina Mariez’s transvestites translate better than anyone Simone de Beauvoir’s quote : « One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. » Yet, there is no second sex here, but one in between, or even a third one. Make your selection. Frontiers are blurred. Identities morph. Small pieces of childhood dreams can be found in every picture. To be a princess when you were a young boy… Those dreams mix with an harsh reality – relatives are often ruled out of this life. Glitter and shadow. In the eye of the photographer, the dreaded or provocative ambivalence of the looks, the sexual identity and the view of the beholder are expressed through tiny nuances : a piece of the setting. An almost invisible frame. A fugitive brightness in the model’s eyes. These pictures tell us about the precarious balance of a fantasy living. Lachantal or Missfein, David or Christophe, Emma, Miss Rika... Of course, transvestites in Sabrina Mariez’s pictures are not common women. But are they so different ? These pictures are singular, but they also follow them in their everyday lives, somewhere between glamour and the disenchantment. No precautions have been taken to get close to them, no touting– Voyeurs will also be disappointed. The approach is sensitive and displays a real affection towards men who can be as much in love and, sometimes, as jealous as women can be. The being and the look embrace each other, one guiding the other. I is somebody else, tell Sabrina Mariez’s pictures.