Elizabeth Waterman
Elizabeth Waterman is a Los Angeles–based artist who uses a camera. Her work is rooted in portraiture and documentary practice and explores performance, desire, power, identity, and the assumptions viewers bring to images of women.
Over more than a decade, Waterman has worked closely with dancers, performers, and communities often viewed from the outside. Her books include MONEYGAME (XYZ Books, 2021) and CANDYLAND (Unicorn Publishing, 2024). Her newest body of work, PROPULSION, pairs dancers and jellyfish in diptych form, bringing bodies moving through air and water into a visual dialogue around gesture, performance, beauty, perception, and physical intelligence. The project debuted at Photo London in 2026 with Albumen Gallery and will be published by Skira in 2027, with a foreword by Shepard Fairey.
Propulsion
Shot entirely on 35mm, Propulsion examines the shared principles of propulsion, suspension, and control, revealing unexpected kinships between pole artistry and the ancient, rhythmic movement of jellyfish. The series challenges entrenched conventions around erotic imagery and performance.
Gorgeous Drag
Between 2014 – 2016 Elizabeth Waterman undertook an extensive and ambitious project documenting and portraying the New York Drag scene. The resulting ‘Gorgeous Drag’ series marks a significant departure in Elizabeth Waterman’s work – leaving the insulated studio environment with its clearly and narrowly defined portrait photography roles of ‘I am the photographer and you are the subject’.
Moneygame
Moneygame explores the world of strip clubs. For four years Elizabeth Waterman spent most of her Saturday nights in strip clubs, photographing and building a rapport with the dancers who make their livelihoods there capturing the girls climbing the pole, giving lap dances in the VIP section, putting on glittery outfits, and counting their dollars at the end of a long night. It is a considerable achievement that notwithstanding – in fact, despite the locations Elizabeth Waterman avoids sexualised clichés. Her images always capture individual women, who for whatever reason earn a living in the clubs.
The hardcover photobook ‘Moneygame’ is available from Albumen Gallery. Follow moneygame to find out more
