Color photograph of the head and shoulders of a light brown skinned person with dark hair smiling and looking just off center; they wear a tan linen shirt and are situated in an indoor room with green potted plants and a window

Elle Pérez

Abigail Cohen Rome Prize
February 13–July 14, 2023
Profession
Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, Harvard University
Project title
Surrender
Project description

My work over the last decade has focused on vulnerability, intimacy, and visibility as they relate to transgender and queer people. I have begun to contemplate how surrendering—to love, to pain, to pleasure, or to death—is already within my images, and how it can become the focus of my next body of work. During my residency, I would like to contemplate and work through the theme of surrender. Access to cultural institutions, museums, churches, and archeological sites in Rome will allow me to delve deeper in to the Christian and Catholic symbolism that I use in my work. My primary goal is to make new images during my time in Rome while further experimenting with sequence and juxtaposition, making new configurations of my images that can unlock further meaning.