Butch in Progress

G.B. Jones - Tom Girl drawings

[B] G.B. Jones is what you might call an artistic multi-talent: She’s a musician, a filmmaker, an artis, a publisher worked among others with Bruce la Bruce and Caroline Azar. On top of that she’s openly gay and so is her work.

G.B. Jones has an uneasy fascination with authority and uses her gender and sexual preference to exploit fantasies of rock & roll, sex, groupies, booze, drugs, money, leather, torn jeans,motorcycles and stardom as an all out assault against values that would strive for assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream. She’s every queer girl and boy’s hero, whether you want her to be or not. Believe it or don’t, she is looking out for every queer’s best interests. (Source)

The drawings here are from different series such as Tattoo Girls, Cruising and I am a Fascist Pig, which was inspired by the idea of a lesbian fantasy movie like Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! For more information about her artwork and some other drawings you should go and visit queer-arts.org. 

(Excerpt from) Night Hunter by Stacey Steers

[K] Besides gay ladies, I really like silent film, and since I’m missing an outlet for that particular passin right now, bear with me for a moment as I introduce you to this amazing short film:

In this handmade film, composed of more than four thousand collages, the actress Lilian Gish is seamlessly appropriated from silent-era cinema and plunged into a new and haunting role. Night Hunter evokes a disquieting dreamscape, drawn from allegory, myth, and archetype. Music and sound by Larry Polansky. (StaceySteers.com)

(Maybe it’s also time to add Night Hunters non-nomination for the Oscars to my growing list of Academy-Award-related disappointments this year.)

Jeanne Mammen (1890 - 1976)

[K] Despite my fondness for photography, I find myself enthralled by these paintings that capture the energy of Berlin’s lesbian subculture at its finest…

(I’m might get nostalgic again for something I never experienced - but it’s hard not too - they all look gorgeous, defiant and fierce in the best possible way.)

In case you - like me until ca. 48 hours ago - are not quite familiar with the creator of these art works, how’s this for an introduction:

Jeanne Mammen was one of the most talented artists and illustrators to emerge from Germany’s Weimar epoch (1919-1933), … At a time when the predominant style was a frequently harsh and unflattering realism, Mammen dedicated her art to the gently satirical, sometimes sympathetic, representation of Berlin’s diverse constituencies, particularly the newly visible lesbian. (ArtTattler)

Alice’s Wonder Land

[K] Alice Austen (1866-1952): one of America’s first female photographers and long overdue to be mentioned on this blog, because the lady was a badass. Not only did she take quasi-photojournalistic pictures of not just her family and friends, but also the city of New York before most of the rest of the world thought of using the new medium like that, she also defied Victorian ideals of womanhood throughout her life - and dared documenting it. Instead of taking pictures of flowers and “womanly stuff”, Austen documented the city life and the life of what today might becalled ‘gender outlaws’, instead of being an “angel of the house”, she spent her time travelling (as well as playing tennis, cycling, hiking etc) and following her passion for photography, and instead of choosing a fake marriage, she lived with a woman - Getrude Tate. 

The couple met in 1899  - though it took another 18 years before Tate moved in with Austen. The two women lived and work together, supported each other until poverty forced Tate to go back to her family. Their wish to be buried together was sadly denied by the surviving relatives. Yet at least professionaly, Austen’s life offered a happy ending: shortly before her death, her work was rediscovered and featured in LIFE magazine, which allowed Austen to life off her art for the first time in her life at age 85.

Sidenote: We know Alice Austen must have been gay, because there is a musical about her life. Plus: You know finally have a reason to visit Staten Island - her home is open to the public as a museum.

Recommended Reading: Alice’s World.

[Edit:] For a modern spin on Austen’s pictures, have a look at Steven Rosen’s contemporary reproductions of two of her most iconic pictures.

The Beauty Book. 2.0

[K] Annie Leibovitz’ on her latest book project Pilgrimage, which - unusually for her oeuvre - doesn’t feature any people, but instead places and things, landscapes and material:

“Several years ago, Susan Sontag and I were planning something that we called the Beauty Book. The Beauty Book was going to provide an excuse for us to travel around to places we cared about and wanted to see. For me, it meant going back to taking pictures when I was moved to take a picture. When there wasn’t an agenda. If you are on assignment for a magazine, there are always agendas. Things that have to get done. I care about my assignment work, but I wanted to try working without that pressure. To be in a situation where I took a picture just because I saw it.
After Susan died, I knew that I couldn’t do the Beauty Book, although as time passed, I realized that I might do a different book, with a different list of places. The list would, inevitably, be colored by my memory of Susan and what she was interested in but it would be my list.” (FeminineMoments)

(Pictures courtesy of NewYorkTimes)

LESBIANS SEEING LESBIANS: Building Community in Early Feminist Photography

An exhibition at the The Leslie/Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, showing until October 22nd. So, if you’re living in/near NY, hurry!

“Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.”

By Jenny Holzer, one of my all-time-favorite artists.

From: SURVIVAL SERIES, 1983-85

Awesome* Musicians photographed by Erica Beckman

[K] The Pride Photo Awards brought her to my attention, her great photos of awesome musicians brought her on this blog: photographer Erica Beckman.

* “awesome” according my highly subjective standards, which basically means “I have seen them live in concert and loved every single minute of it” - this also means I have been to concert by L.P., Uh Uh Her, and Melissa Ferrick.

My Gay is showing. (Also: it’s ok to be jealous ;-))

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p.s.: you might have noticed that Bitch was originally part of this post.  Since then, however, Head Girl has send us this link (a summary of Bitch’s not-so-trans-friendly statements), which made Bitch seem less awesome. Hence, she’s not part of this reserved-for-awesome-people post anymore….

After Louise Bourgeois

[K] Artwork by Deborah Krass, Quote by Louise Bourgeois.

A woman has no place in the art world unless she proves over and over again she won’t be eliminated

Swoon - Mermaid

[K] Speaking of swooning this morning… there’s a street artist called Swoon from Brooklyn who’s doing amazing work with prints and paper cutouts, i.e. this mermaid.

(I love how mermaids are having a comeback in my life right now.)

Here you’ll find, what the New York Times has to say about her. The Huffington Post is even nice enough to add some pictures of Swoon working.