Lenzo from Detroit, Michigan is photographed by Nixon in this thoughtful series published by PSB #projectskinnyboys

Lenzo’s series starts small: knees pulled close, arms wrapped long around himself, a quiet figure holding his own corners of the rug like he’s not sure yet if the room will hold him.

Frame by frame, that tight circle loosens. His back lengthens along the floorboards, shoulders stretching out, the long lines of his legs no longer folded away but laid down like a claim. The bouquet enters almost shyly—red and white petals pressed close to his chest—then settles into his hands like something he’s finally decided he deserves to keep.

Nothing here pretends he’s never curled inward under someone else’s words. The boy who learned to make himself smaller is still in the posture, in the way his fingers hover before they rest. But the man beside him is starting to trust that tenderness and power can share the same body, that a frame like his can carry softness without apology.

Look back over the images and you can feel the shift: from bracing for impact to laying his full length down in the open, from background to his own foreground. For anyone who’s ever mistaken shrinking for safety, Lenzo’s session is a quiet testimony—your long limbs, your guarded bloom, the way you finally exhale onto the floor—they all count.