PHOTOS: Butch-Femme Culture Is Alive and Well

When photographer Wendi Kali came up empty-handed after searching for contemporary images of butches and femmes back in 2010, she decided to do something about it by launching a "butch/femme photo project."

What followed was a five-year journey across the U.S. that saw her taking more than 100 photographs of butches and femmes, and which has finally culminated in the stunning new book: The Butch/Femme Photo Project.

"I hope to show how [butch and femme] identities have evolved by photographing the many unique and individual expressions of them," Kali explained on her blog right before launching her 2013 Kickstarter campaign that allowed her to capture the beautiful, diverse images of people whose self-defined identities include "fierce fiesty femme," "butch trans woman," punky funky high femme," "jock," and "tomboy."

"What I've discovered so far in this process is that not only is there a huge butch-femme community thriving in today's world, but also each individual within that community is a very unique expression of butch or femme," Kali told The Advocate while partway through her process. "There isn't one way to be butch. There isn't one way to be femme."

Check out the images below to see the many faces of butch and femme.

Carmelle

Jen & Jeanine

Deb (right)

Ceasar

Dana & Autumn

Radwolf

Jessamyn

Linnea & Heather

All images courtesy of Wendy Kali.