Elle Pérez (born 1989) is an American photographer whose work explores

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

, intimacy, vulnerability, and the relationship between seeing and love. Pérez is a

gender non-conforming Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identi ...

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

artist. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Pérez is represented by 47 Canal and currently lives and works in New York City. In 2019, Pérez was featured in ''Cultured Magazine'''s "30 Under 35" and in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'''s "30 Under 30". Pérez's work was included in the 2019

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

Early life and education

Pérez is of Puerto Rican descent and grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York City. In 2002, at the age of twelve, Pérez began photographing the Bronx

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

community that they were a part of, creating an archive of the people that shaped these peripheral, alternative, and

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

spaces. Pérez holds a BFA in Photography from

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

and an MFA in Photography from

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Master of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in g ...

. They attended the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

Work

In 2014 and 2015 Pérez photographed queer and punk spaces such as Euforia Latina, the name for latin night at Club Hippo in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, MD and Bronx Underground, a punk show at the First Lutheran Church of Throgs Neck, in the Bronx, both of which have since closed. Pérez's photographs chronicle these spaces of queer liberation. In these nightclub photographs, "Pérez, working in settings of emotional familiarity, takes her subjects, their queerness, and their blackness and brownness for granted. By doing so, heyrecenter all LGBT individuals as normative, everyday, and utterly beautiful." While a graduate student at Yale in 2015 they began a series titled "Raw," photographs of the Black and Latino wrestlers of the Bronx underground

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

scene. Pérez was interested in how wrestlers create personas to experiment with new identities, and specifically identities that may not be accessible to them in everyday life. In an interview with ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' about this series they state, "I think wrestling is important for people in my community who are denied certain types of identities and can't be anyone they want in the "real" world. You can be anyone you want in the ring." As expressed in

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

's press release, on the occasion of the artist's first museum solo exhibition, ''Diablo'', "Pérez's photographs distill moments of intimacy and emotional exchange: a bloody hand resting between parted legs; the scar gracing a bare chest; twinned rocks nestled against an outcropping; a friend's face grazed by sunlight." Pérez's ''In Bloom'' solo exhibition at 47 Canal in 2018 comprised nine photographs and marked a departure from earlier images documenting queer public spaces to Pérez's own private and intimate spaces, including the apartment of their partner, Ian. The pictures in this show contain "codes of desire" legible to

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

communities, but obscure to outsiders.

Academic career

They were formerly a visiting professor at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

, a critic at the

, and a dean at the

. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 2018 – ''In Bloom,'' 47 Canal, New York City * 2018 – ''Diablo,''

, New York City * 2021 – ''Forum 84,''

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

, Pittsburgh, PA

Group exhibitions

* 2018 – ''This is Not a Prop'',

David Zwirner Gallery David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. It has four gallery spaces in New York City and one each in Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Paris. History The Zwirner Gallery opened in 1993 on the gr ...

, New York City * 2018 – ''Intimacy'', Yossi Milo Gallery, New York City * 2018 – ''Everyday Muse,'' LTD Gallery, Los Angeles * 2019 – ''

'',

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York City * 2019 – ''Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Contemporary Art in the 50th Year of the Stonewall Era (2019)'',

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, New York City

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Elle 1989 births Photographers from the Bronx American people of Puerto Rican descent 21st-century American photographers Harvard University faculty Yale University faculty American non-binary artists Living people Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni Hispanic and Latino American artists Non-binary photographers 21st-century American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from New York (state) Transgender academics