Jess Dugan explores issues of identity, gender, sexuality, and community through photographic portraiture. This photograph, Self Portrait with Mom (Mirror), is part of a series of intimate family photos taken after Dugan’s chest reconstruction surgery when they were 18.

“Although my investigation surrounding identity was born out of personal experience, my focus has continually expanded outward, centering around the process through which we each come to know our authentic selves and the difficulties that arise when we assert those selves within constraining environments.”