"Is Lee Miller a man or a woman?" Lee chuckled whenever she heard that question. Born Elizabeth Miller, 'Lee' wasn't just a nickname; it was the name she had chosen with care when she established herself as a professional photographer, hoping to confuse prospective (sexist) clients about her gender. No stranger to masquerading, Lee once said about her days as a Vogue model: "I looked like an angel, but I was a fiend inside". Yes, her beauty was a blessing, and she definitely used her stunning looks to get what she wanted: sex, money, knowledge, the chance to travel. But those looks could also get in the way, dazzling people to the point where they couldn't see the serious artist behind those luscious lips and perfect cheekbones. At times, it made Lee feel like an involuntary illusionist.

Luckily, she could take charge through her work as a Surrealist photographer. Using mesmerizing optical illusions, Lee blurred the distinction between the real and the imagined, between her inner and outer world. Among my personal favorites are her 'solarization' images, created by exposing prints prematurely to light (a process discovered through a 'happy accident': panicking when a mouse ran over Lee's foot in the darkroom, she turned on the light in the middle of printing). The otherworldly glow radiating from the bodies in those pictures makes them seem to float in the air, proving that when Lee worked her magic on her own terms, she was a master of illusion.