Wynne Neilly, Photographer
Illustration by Jeffrey Phillips
Wynne Neilly is a Toronto based, queer identified, visual artist and award-winning photographer who is currently working out of Toronto. Upon completion of his BFA in Image Arts at Ryerson University in the summer of 2012, Wynne has directed his focus on producing and showcasing work in gallery spaces internationally. His latest project, Female to "Male" documents Wynne's transition.
Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell,
by Rebecca Epstein and Sybil Venegas
"Seems completely fitting to pay tribute this book due to her recent passing. This book totally changed the way I thought about self portraiture and body politics. The images are bold, blunt, tender, quiet, and a whole bunch of other emotions crammed into one image. Deeply moving from start to finish."
Body Alchemy: Transexual Portraits,
by Loren Cameron
"I first saw this book before I came out as trans in my undergrad and it blew me away. The subject matter and the way in which he portrays his trans body was so inspiring to me and gave me confidence in starting to explore my own self portraits."
The Eighth Square: Gender, Life and Desire in Art Since 1960,
by Judith Butler and Frank Wagner
"I first flipped through a copy of this book when I was working on my thesis during my undergrad. The book isn't ONLY photographers, but showcases many artists who focus on sexuality, gender, and identity in their work. It gave me a lot of insight into how to speak about the above topics in my own work and was truly inspiring to see how other artists have paved the way for artists like myself."
Keeping an Eye on the World,
by Catherine Opie
"I have been in love with Opie's work for as long as I was interested in photography and identity. This book is really important to me because it showed me that it's okay to have many interests and subject matters as a photographer. Sometimes it's easy to feel cornered as an artist or photographer for producing one style of work. This book is a beautiful blend of many styles of Catherine Opie's work."