Transformations: A Gender Exploration

Transformations: A Gender Exploration by Mariette Pathy Allen with selections from Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them and Fantasy & Flowers series

In 1978 New Orleans, Mariette Pathy Allen stumbled upon the mostly closeted world of men looking to express their “feminine sides.” With her camera, she set out to document and “de-freakify” the liberating world of crossdressing. She realized the potential to offer a different view of the LGBTQ+ community around the world through photography.

Pathy Allen’s work has contributed to numerous publications and lectures, both academic and cultural, regarding gender variance and gender consciousness around the globe. Her collection of works exploring this misunderstood community led to the publication of her first book, Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them, in 1989. Pathy Allen’s work is currently being archived by Duke University’s rare book and Manuscripts Library, and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s Studies.