40

What does it mean to age as a queer woman? What does it mean to turn forty? Why do we have such a social hangup around this age, and why does youth have so much value?

These are the questions I’m seeking to answer with this portrait project. I’m turning forty this year and I’m using this as an opportunity to profile forty different queer women to understand and share their experience of aging in a straight, patriarchal, youth-biased culture.

Through this work I hope to gain a better understanding of my own experience of aging, because I don’t know how I feel about it. I also hope that this work can provide some insight for other folks struggling with their own experience.

This work will be shot directly to 8x10 paper in camera and developed as a reversal print, removing the need for intermediate negatives. By using this large a format and removing any digital or enlargement process, these images will show the subjects their reflection (shooting direct to paper creates a mirror image) with a perspective and level of detail only large format can provide.

During the shoot, a short interview will be recorded, intended to be shared as part of this work.

This project is being shot during my fortieth year on Earth at my private studio in Toronto. This work is ongoing, but I’m hoping to be finished by the end of 2025.