In his 2023 memoir Pageboy, Elliot Page writes: “This narrative where trans people have to feel lucky for these crumbs – that we fought hard for, and still fight for – is perverse and manipulative […] everyone should have access to gender-affirming health care and lifesaving health care. It just should be.”

This feeling of “it just should be” is at the heart of photographer Lindsay Perryman’s new series Tops, which documents them and their trans and non-binary friends, celebrating the freedom and friendship they have found in expressing their queer identities.

Having studied fashion as an undergrad, they applied to Parsons School of Design for a photography masters with their zine The Colors We Don’t See at the End of the Rainbow, which featured portraits of Black studs, or Black women with a more masculine presentation. “I think being in school really taught me a lot about the work, but I don’t think that kind of institution gives you the language for what people actually go through,” they reflect. Their artistic practice felt more connected to their experiences growing up; their dad always had cameras around the house, and there were photos of family events plastered all over the walls.

Today, Perryman spends their time documenting their chosen family. Created between 2021 and 2025, their Tops series reflects their desire to capture transmasculine vulnerability. A selection of these archival pigment prints is currently on show at CLAMP in New York, with a specific focus on Perryman’s self-portraiture; elsewhere in the city, their work is part of the permanent collection at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which acquires and exhibits work by LGBTQ+ artists.

Perryman’s conception of themself is deeply tied to their friend group: Dani, Kelee, Cat, Paps, Melani, Blazie and Zaire. “I think it is just a beautiful thing to be able to photograph people throughout their life and see the different changes they go through,” they say. Their own top surgery was characterised both by the tenderness of being cared for by their community and the complex feelings towards this new chapter. Alongside relief, they acknowledge the sorrow they felt about leaving behind a former version of themself. “There was a part of your body that you’ve had all your life – and I felt lighter – but there was definitely something missing,” they say. “I think that was just me grieving part of me that no longer really exists, but also being happy for where I’m heading and how my identity feels closer to what I feel inside.” 

The portraits in Perryman’s exhibition exist in tandem with a 2024 short film and a monograph, which they consider an archive of otherwise intangible experiences. “The book features not just trans men, but also non-binary people and queer people, which I feel is also important to telling this story because it’s not just about top surgery, but about how community shows up for each other,” they emphasise.

In terms of touchstones, Perryman cites photographers like Jess T Dugan, whose work includes moving series such as Look at me like you love me (2015-2022) and Every Breath We Drew (2011-2015), and Texas Isaiah, who in 2022 was part of the touring exhibition The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion. They also cite Collier Schorr as an artist they really look up to.

Though people like Perryman are celebrating queerness, the current adminstration is extremely hostile to the LGBTQ+ community in America. What does it feel like to exhibit work like this against a backdrop of venomous and violent rhetoric aimed at trans people? “It feels good to go against what America is telling us right now,” Perryman says. “I think the work is just more important than ever – for people to see themselves, and to feel a sense of belonging.”

Tops is showing at Clamp in New York until 28 August 2026.