Burning the Binary

Arianna Coan-Prichard is a 20-year-old photographer based in San Francisco. She began shooting fashion at the age of fourteen in New York City and now focuses on fine art photography creatively. Arianna’s greatest passion is creating socially and environmentally conscious art. ‘Burning the Binary’ is a shoot centered around gender identity.

This series was inspired by my passion for promoting identity expression and acceptance, a passion I have recently started to channel through my photography. I wanted the photos to be bold, graphic, fierce, and unapologetic. I wanted them to demand acknowledgement, just as I hope their message does. I wanted this demand to mirror the demand so many gender nonconforming humans and allies are making for recognition and the right to express their authentic self. The subject of these photos is a non-binary friend of mine. Through their own gender identification, we aimed to make a statement about breaking down the binary, with the burning of the gender questionnaire, and portraying non-binary pride, with the they/them pronoun stickers. All clothing used was owned by team members, second hand, or purchased from small local San Francisco businesses with the intention to conduct the shoot in an environmentally conscious and sustainable way.