The real reason I’m back in Helsinki 🎀💁🏻♂️ my first solo museum exhibition “Z Walsh: Feminine Man” is about to open March 26th at the Finnish Museum of Photography. I stopped saying “I can’t believe it,” so instead I’ll say that my heart is at peace, and my gratitude is enormous.
“For Z, femininity represents those aspects of himself that he, in the beginning of his transition, tried to escape from and conceal in order to fit the masculine ideal. Today, however, he embraces femininity, not only in others but also in himself, consciously making space for it at the forefront of his personality.
With this show, Z gives homage to the feminine parts of himself, proudly presented here through diary-like self-portraits. Most of all, Feminine Man is a love letter to Z’s community of friends and lovers, past and present.”
Thank you with my whole heart to the Finnish Museum of Photography (
@valokuvamuseo ) for supporting my work and believing in me. Most of all thank you to my curator Orlan
@orlan_ohtonen , you gave such great care and attention to my work and me through this process. Working with you has been one of my greatest joys. Thanks also to my angel Isobel Fox (
@foxobel ), who has produced and who co-directed the film portion of the show.
I also want to thank my advisors and collaborators for this work McKenzie Wark (
@mckenziewark3000 ), Meg Rosensweet (
@phallicmother ), Natasha Leonie Moustache (
@natashamoustache ), Hermes Payrhuber (
@hermesstudiopayrhuber ), Jessica Dunn Rovinelli (
@jdr____llc ), Lucy Hart (
@lucyhartofficial ), my mom, Carson Jordan (
@cahhhhson ), Sibyl Self (
@sezisoro ), Agnes Walsh (
@girlfriendmuseum ), Clay Ardito (
@chain_twyler ), Justine Marie (
@justinemariemodel ), Silas Perry (
@mullet4mullet ), Chase Sakowitz (
@thecowboychase ), and many more.
What I’m showing pulls from my whole body of work, since I started this medium in 2016 when I traded some hours to a photographer who photographed me in exchange for one of his cameras. I’ve worked hard since then to build my world, learn my visual language, and to take myself seriously when I always used to think “they don’t put people like me in museums.” I wish my younger self could see me now.
