Transmasc Visibility: Remembering The Legacy & Life Of Loren Rex Cameron
Loren Rex Cameron (August 28, 1959–November 18, 2022) was an American photographer, author & transgender activist, whose groundbreaking portraits of himself & others, collected in his book, Body Alchemy, inspired a generation of transgender people. His work primarily consisted of portraits & self-portraits of transsexual bodies, particularly trans men, in both clothed & nude form.
Cameron was born in Pasadena, CA but in 1969, after his mother's death, moved to Dover, AR, where he lived as a self-described tomboy on his father's farm. By 16, Cameron identified as a lesbian & encountered homophobia in the small town where he lived, so he consequently quit school & left home to seek work as a construction worker & in other blue collar employment.
In 1979 Cameron moved to SF where he 1st identified socially with the lesbian community until the age of 26, when he began to confront his dissatisfaction with his body. Cameron's interest in photography coincided with the beginning of his transition from female to male, which he documented photographically. In '93, Cameron began studying the basics of photography & started photographing the trans community. By '95, Cameron's photographs had been shown in solo exhibitions in SF, LA, Minneapolis & more.
Critics praised Cameron's photographs as compelling & informative, & his images have been published in numerous books such as Constructing Masculinity: Discussions in Contemporary Culture as well as Leslie Feinberg's Transgender Warriors. He also posed for numerous photographers such as Daniel Nicoletta, Amy Arbus, & Howard Shatz. “He wasn’t invested in hiding that he had been a woman,” said Brenda Marston, curator of Cornell’s Human Sexuality Collection. “He put his whole body and soul out there.”
His own published works include Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits & Man Tool: The Nuts & Bolts of Female-to-Male Surgery, both of which consist largely of self-portraits & portraits of other female to male transpeople. Body Alchemy was a double Lambda Literary award winner. Over the decades, fine artists like Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe & Diane Arbus “have all trained their lenses on the transgendered figure,” wrote Kate Bornstein, the gender theorist & author, in reviewing “Body Alchemy” upon its release. “Never have the transgendered seriously photographed their own. Not until Loren Cameron, that is.”
Matt Rice, a friend of Mr. Cameron's, wrote: “I knew Loren as one of the guys who attended FTM support groups that eventually became FTM International. He took photos of a bunch of us in that group that became the 'Body Alchemy' book. Those books, which included a photo of me, were truly transformative for so many gender-diverse people who did not otherwise have access to the peer group we had built in the San Francisco Bay Area."
Cameron died by suicide at his home in Berkeley, CA, on November 18, 2022, at the age of 63. He had been in poor health due to congestive heart failure, & his sister told The NYTimes that he'd become withdrawn from family & friends. His death was only recently reported publicly.
Many people believe that Body Alchemy remains a milestone on the subject of FTM documentation. "He was such an incredibly sweet guy, & I found that he valued genuine connections," Gabriel Haaland, a trans man & former Bay Area resident, wrote in a Facebook message. "You could see it so clearly in his eyes. It felt like there weren't that many of us back in the early 1990s & it meant a lot to know him. I am so grateful for all that he did for our community."