Teen magazines like Tiger Beat have always been about teen boys pretending to be men for the consumption of young girls. But what if that became grown women posing as teen boys pretending to be men for the consumption of young girls?
The result is actually kind of magical.
Montreal artist Eve Thomas and photographer Richmond Lam teamed up to create Poster Boys, a series of portraits transforming women into teen heartthrobs circa the early '90s. That's Thomas below, channelling Devon Sawa.
While all the shots are inspired by specific boys, they also touch upon a universal aesthetic that teen girls flocked to.
"This project in some ways can be exactly what you want it to be, just like the boys," said Thomas. "It can be 'oh, that’s funny, that’s uncanny.' Or it can be just a total deep, traumatizing, entertaining look into the psyche of little girls for people just remembering this crazy intense period of their lives."
It's also a wonderfully queer project, not only with the models (many of whom incidentally identify as LGBT), but in the way people have reacted to the images.
"One way to enjoy the show is to look at this hot drag," said Thomas. Or for lesbians, she said, it's sparked conversations about how the teen heartthrob phenomenon played into discovering their sexuality.
"I’m not trying to make any grand pronouncements about queerness or trans identity or anything like that," said Thomas. "But I find it interesting just how much freedom or experimentation is allowed little girls."
