For Boston-based artist Laura Beth Reese, breakups will always be a part of her life. The photographer’s series Ex-Boyfriends sees Reese capture photographic mementos of her former partners after the relationship is over. The images see the subjects, tacit and half-undressed, as they pose for her camera and gaze, pensively into the distance.
The portraits of former lovers are intimate and vulnerable, almost awkward, while being emotionally exclusive: Reese reveals no history or background about her past with any of the subjects and, in setting each portrait in a similar way – all subjects are shirtless and wearing underwear – she normalizes all of the relationships.
You can see the series below.
