Character Portrait Artist Statement: A Narrative Character Portrait by Emily Andreas (2015)

My character is Allie Marshall (birth name Aidan) and she is a transgender teen who is coming out to her parents. She is afraid of her parent's reactions to her being a female, but decides to tell them anyway. In my photograph, I have Allie with a long wig, portraying that she wants to be a girl. She also has makeup on, thus emphasizing her desires to be a female.

I captured the shot with soft lighting and a black background to really bring out the colors in the wig, showing what Allie wants to be. The props I used was a wig, beanie and flannel. The oversized flannel my model has on is portraying how Allie is uncomfortable in the body she was given, and the wig is showing how she wants to be a girl, not a boy like she biologically is. The beanie was just to hold the model's hair up, but it worked out very well and goes with Allie's style. I had some problems with the lighting, but eventually was able to get what I needed for the perfect shot.