At first, Mark Seliger didn’t realize he was shooting trans stories, just people who found their way to Christopher Street.
Mark Seliger has photographed our culture's most recognizable faces -- President Barack Obama, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Schumer, Johnny Depp, Kurt Cobain, and Mick Jagger -- for magazines including Time, Rolling Stone, GQ, and Vanity Fair.
On the genesis of his new book, Christopher Street: Transgender Stories, Seliger explains: "I've always been intrigued by the life and theatre of Christopher Street. More recently, I've noticed it vanishing. My interest in photo documentary led to the building of a series of portraits, which led to three summers of shooting. At first I didn't even realize I was shooting trans stories, just stories of people who found their way to Christopher Street. As I began to talk about this project, I realize that everybody has a trans story, that being trans is something that affects all of us."
The end result is a collection of 74 beautiful, black and white portraits combined with their moving and deeply personal stories. They will all be included in On Christopher Street: Transgender Stories. Photographs by Mark Seliger along with an introduction by MSNBC's Janet Mock, published by Rizzoli New York this month.
(c) On Christopher Street: Transgender Stories Photographs by Mark Seliger, Rizzoli New York, 2016.
