Women in Film & Photography 2025 Exhibition
Boy | CY LIU

For most of my life I did not know how to articulate the incongruences I felt within myself. I learned to normalize discomfort, wearing clothes I did not like, keeping hairstyles that did not make me feel beautiful, and constantly comparing myself to – and falling short of – society’s binary gender expectations.

When I finally gave myself permission to trust what I felt and wanted, which could no longer be easily perceived or defined, it felt like freedom came at the cost of carrying shame, guilt, and fear.

“Are you a boy or a girl?”

I bore the weight of my pain and loneliness until it felt like I was sinking to the bottom of the ocean with rocks attached to my body. In the darkness, I began to understand that even the deepest parts of the ocean teem with life, and that lotus flowers rise out of fragrant mud. I learned to see that I deserved to live with the lightness of breath once I had experienced the heaviness of gasping for air.

Through experiments with self-portraiture and collaborative image-making with others, Boy visualizes my journey of healing and becoming. By creating scenes where I intentionally see myself and allow others to see me, I explore what it feels like to live as a transgender person in a human body, and how photography can be used as a practice for self-acceptance and transformation.

How do I want to see myself? What do I want to feel in my body? What is the life I wish to experience, and what are the stories I choose to carry now?

Thank you to my collaborators, Romana Anuradha, Ennuh Tiu, and Chris M Yee.

 

About Cy Liu
Cy Liu is a trans and queer artist, photographer, and educator. He is passionate about facilitating experiences that can help people meet their authentic selves. Through his visual work, he aims to create and experience transformation, self-acceptance, and healing love.

He is an alumni of the Angkor Photo Workshop and Women Photograph Mentorship Program.

For the rest of our Women in Film and Photography 2025 programme, visit here.