Sam Penn’s 19 exquisite images of herself and her partner, writer Max Battle, in a new show, “Max” (New York Life Gallery, November 6 through December 20), will gladden your heart. Bathed in the kind of light that only seems present when you’re with the one you adore, this is a show all about love, closeness, yearning, and, yes, intense sexual attraction; these might be some of the most emotionally resonant and deeply personal images I’ve seen in the longest time. Penn and Battle, who are both trans, have navigated their relationship and very carefully chosen how they reveal—expose, even—that relationship so that their shared vulnerability becomes a remarkable iteration of strength and honesty.

“Ever since I’ve known Max, I’ve photographed him,” Penn says, “and as we became romantically a

See Full Page