Lydia Garnett

Lydia Garnett is an artist, photographer and filmmaker based in East London. Focusing on queer subculture, they craft intimate storytelling rooted in a collision of ritual, collectivity, and play. Garnett is deftly attuned to the nuanced intersections of style and identity as told through the codes of underground culture—that haircut, those boots, this chain—using them to inform projects on everything from the erotic allure of the library to the fandom of women's football.

In 2022, Garnett exhibited Close Shave, an acclaimed photography series and short film that pays homage to Dyke, Butch, and transmasc haircuts. Building on the legacy of Catherine Opie and Phyllis Christopher, Garnett documented the collective and individual confidence of Dyke identity born from the soft power of hair. Through this radical yet profoundly personal transcultural symbol, the artist reveals incisive ideas about gender, beauty, sexuality, status, and style. Close Shave's visceral scenes—exploring everything from the hum of the clippers and butch-on-butch love—hold space for tenderness, self-care, and trust, conjuring a new vision of contemporary queer utopia.