18 portraits of women born by men: a candid photo cycle about love for money in Paris

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Christer Stromholm is considered to be a cult Swedish photographer and one of the pioneers of street photography. His portfolio contains hundreds of portraits. One of the most impressive series of his photographs is dedicated to the nightlife on Place Blanche in Paris … Those who were ready to sell flocked here in the 50-60s. love for money (women and men-transvestites), Christer talks about them sincerely and without cuts …

Christer Stremholm lived a difficult life: in his youth he took part in the Soviet-Finnish war and fought against the Nazis during the Second World War. After returning to a peaceful life, he studied painting and photography, proved himself to be a real professional in both directions, and later taught photography at the university and headed the photography school in Stockholm.

Christer traveled a lot, one of his favorite cities was Paris. Here he lived for a long time, observing people, making acquaintances, getting to know the character of the French more and more. In France, Christer was the first to develop the concept of street photography, this genre of photographic art captivated him and pushed him to get acquainted with the night butterflies that lived on Place Blanche.

To make the photo story about the representatives of the ancient profession as believable as possible, Christer Stremholm decided to get to know them better. As it turned out, there were many transsexuals and transvestites among them. Many of them became Christer's friends and willingly agreed to pose for his camera. It is worth admitting that it can be quite difficult to understand who is in front of us (man or woman), but all the heroes of the photo cycle look simply luxurious.

Christer learned a lot about the fate of the "moths", for many transsexuals it was the only way to find a job. Many fled to Paris from tiny towns (due to their otherness), but they were refused in the capital, no matter what vacancy they applied for. All they had to do was trade their own body. The real lucky ones were those who managed to earn enough money to travel to Casablanca, where they could undergo gender reassignment surgery. However, not everyone succeeded in changing their destiny.

Publishing the photo album, Christer accompanied it with a preface, in which he clarified that this book is about self-identification, the right to a full life and to independently control your body. He stressed that the album contains photographs of women who were men by their biological origin. Society calls these people transsexual, while Christer called them friends with Place Blanche.

Learn more about how they looked women of the oldest profession of different times and peoples, you can from our photo review!