Lissa Rivera

Lissa Rivera’s ongoing series ‘Beautiful Boy’ focuses on her romantic partner. While they were friends, he once revealed to her that he had worn women’s clothing almost exclusively in college, but after graduation struggled to navigate a world that seemed both newly accepting yet inherently reviling of male displays of femininity. Lissa Rivera thought that photography could provide a space to experiment, and he eventually became her muse and romantic partner. When taking pictures of him she connects to his vulnerability and shares a deep and intimate connection with him. However, it is important to show his femininity as strength, and together they investigate feminine fantasies presented throughout the history of photography and cinema. Lissa Rivera believes that by presenting her partner within the lineage of great beauties and populating the media with the images, they are claiming in their voice what is attractive and beautiful.

Image Analysis

The colours in this image are very bright and eccentric. The pink and blue tones in this image match well together, not exactly because they compliment each other, but because culturally, they’re seen as opposites. Not only is he dressed feminine in this image but the background could also be seen as feminine as pink is typically seen as a ‘girls colour’. The lighting in this image looks natural as there is light coming through a window or something of the sort directly onto him. Lissa Rivera explained that she “thought about the way Diane Arbus portrayed women in their bedrooms: women who at once had achieved the highest echelon of femininity and domestic opulence, yet at the same time were somewhat of a prisoner to it. Their skill at projecting glamour gave them real power, but at the same time it seems to have isolated them somehow, from other people or from themselves. She felt like the house was somewhat of a mausoleum, preserving a bygone set of ideals that are at once vulgar and supremely innocent in their aspiration.”