Liam Sharp splits his time shooting for editorial and commercial clients in Canada and the UK. Born in London, Liam moved to Toronto as a child and has leveraged his dual citizenship to build a career in both places. His new micro-site focuses on his series of drag queens taken backstage at various clubs in the village, during and after drag shows across Toronto. Interestingly enough, Liam has grappled with the release of them: ‘I’m afraid to send them out. I don’t want to be known as the drag queen photographer. The dilemma of a commercial photographer’s struggle, especially in Canada, is that Canadians are so literal. Internationally, the depth and range of what is accepted is so much greater. It’s understood that it’s not me that these pictures represent, rather, an interesting plot that’s graphic and photographic’.
He describes this experience as being in the trenches and how it put him right out of his comfort zone (he’s a married man of 25 years, with two adult kids). ‘I had to convince myself they were women. I told them how beautiful they were and gave them everything they wanted’. They in return gave Liam what he wanted. And then some. After one shoot, (the woman in the fluffy white collar), grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him square on the lips. These intimate portraits of people straining to assert their identities are remarkably fresh and layered. All the subtext of their life struggles are brushed upon, and the moment at which these images are captured hits their strength.
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