Ames LeeKing

Becomingness | In my photo series, Becomingness , I explore LGBTQIA experiences with vulnerability, bodies, gender, and race. As a non-binary queer person, I photograph people who are on a non-linear relationship with their bodies and what the world projects on to them. Representation of LGBTQIA people in fine art photography remains limited; my aim is to document and honor how we constantly become ourselves in a world that tries to confine us.

During the Pacific Northwest summertime, rivers are a destination, a sanctuary. A critical component of Becomingness is the one hour drive we take to the river together. Building a collaborative relationship with the person in the frame is crucial. It is important that I photograph them in the way they wish to be represented. At the river, we choose a quiet spot with few or no people. Solitude encourages the subject to breathe into themselves. As we explore the area, the photo session is a responding to and a seeing of the person in the environment, rather than directing or executing.

LGBTQIA lives, in our complexity and myriad ways of being, deserve to be documented and honored. Becoming into our bodies is a powerful act of survival and resistance. This is Becomingness. www.amieleeking.com