Mariette Pathy Allen's Historic "Transformations" Now on View

"Andy Becoming Andi, Near San Francisco," 1978-1989

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Vintage dye transfer print from the portfolio "Transformations" (Edition of 50), 22 x 15 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

"Transformations," Mariette Pathy Allen's 1980s color portraits of cross-dressers, is on view at ClampArt through April 10. It is her first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Mariette Pathy Allen has been photographing the transgender community for over 40 years. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing across the globe. Her first book, published in 1989, was titled Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them (E.P. Dutton). The publication was groundbreaking in its investigation of a misunderstood community.

"Kay (Ex-Green Beret)," 1978-1989

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Vintage dye transfer print from the portfolio "Transformations" (Edition of 50), 15 x 22 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

The series "Transformations" started with black-and-white images in New Orleans on the last day of Mardi Gras in 1978 when "by fluke, I stayed at the same hotel as a group of crossdressers, one of whom became a friend," Allen writes. "This chance meeting took me into a mostly closeted world of men who need to express their 'feminine sides.' Realizing early on that I had stumbled upon something potentially liberating and almost completely misunderstood, I set out to 'de-freakify,' and to offer a different view."

Allen produced a portfolio of 11 dye transfer prints to coincide with the release of the book Transformations. The exhibition at ClampArt includes the complete portfolio of color vintage prints, which consists of portraits of cross-dressers shot in the 1980s. The same series was exhibited in January 1990 at the Simon Lowinsky Gallery in New York City. ClampArt's show also includes a selection of black-and-white prints by Allen shot in the same era.

"Terisa [Tom as Carol]," 1978-1989

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Vintage dye transfer print from the portfolio "Transformations" (Edition of 50), 22 x 15 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

"Madeline Victoria," 1978-1989

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Vintage dye transfer print from the portfolio "Transformations" (Edition of 50), 22 x 15 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

Mariette Pathy Allen's second book, The Gender Frontier (Kehrer Verlag, 2003) is a collection of photographs, interviews, and essays covering political activism, youth, and the range of people that identify as transgender in the United States. It won the 2004 Lambda Literary Award in the Transgender/Genderqueer category. Other books by the artist include TransCuba (Daylight Books, 2014) and Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand (Daylight Books, 2017).

In 2020, Queer|Art, a New York nonprofit dedicated to promoting the work of LGBTQ+ artists, launched a new $10,000 grant for Black trans women artists. The award, called the Illuminations Grant, was developed in collaboration with photographer Mariette Pathy Allen, writer and consultant Aaryn Lang, and multidisciplinary artist Serena Jara. Allen single-handedly endowed the award.

"Vanessa [in a Fur Jacket]," 1978-1989

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Vintage dye transfer print from the portfolio "Transformations" (Edition of 50), 22 x 15 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

Mariette Pathy Allen's photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and abroad. Her work is represented in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York City; New York Public Library, New York City; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Reiss-Engelhorn Museum, Frankfurt, Germany; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York; Musee de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, Indiana; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland; McEvoy Family Collection, San Francisco, California; Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania; and Museum of Photography, Lishui, China.

"Vicky West Dancing the Cancan With My Daughters, Cori and Julia, Bridgehampton, NY," 1982

(c) Mariette Pathy Allen, Gelatin silver print (Edition of 15), 12 x 18 inches, Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City.

Her work will be archived at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's Studies at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. For more, please visit www.mariettepathyallen.com, ClampArt is located at 247 W. 29th St., Ground Floor, New York, NY 10001. For more information: (646) 230-0020 or info@clampart.com, www.clampart.com. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.