Accession Number2013/2.347
TitleRoberta Fay Henderson
Artist(s)Danny LyonArtist NationalityAmerican (North American)Object Creation Date1967; printed 2010Medium & Supportgelatin silver print on paperDimensions 14 in x 11 in (35.56 cm x 27.94 cm)
Credit LineGift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80Subject matterAfter
Knoxville, Tennessee, Lyon traveled to Galveston, Texas. He had not found the material he had hoped to find in Knoxville. In Galveston, he photographed people and places that were outside of mainstream America. He met seventeen year old Roberta Fay Henderson, a transgender woman who Lyon recorded speaking. She said of herself: "this wonderful life all started for me when I was six years old … my destiny was to be a girl ... some day I am planning to have a sex-change operation.” In this image, Roberta stands in front of a storefront, her arms behind her back. She wears patterned, high-waisted pants and a sleeveless shirt, looking into the camera lens.
Physical DescriptionPhotograph of a woman leaning against a storefront. She wears patterned, high-waisted pants and a dark sleeveless shirt.
Primary Object ClassificationPhotographCollection AreaPhotographyRightsIf you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit
http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Keywords
single-sitter portraits
storefronts
transgenderism
women (female humans)