I didn't post last week as the news for the trans community in Britain has been so toxic - threats to the Mermaids charity for trans children, a group of trans-exclusive feminists invited to parliament to attack trans women, and the usual hate in the Daily Mail and ridicule in The Sun newspapers. The xenophobia behind a lot of the votes in the referendum on Britain leaving the European Union has caused an explosion in hate crime and anti-minority abuse.
So instead this week I am going to mention an exhibition I saw at the Photographers Gallery in London, which I visited with my oldest TGirlfriend, Ange. I know various other of my trans friends have seen it.
https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/under-cover-secret-history-cross-dressers
The exhibition is based around old photographs picked up in markets and such which show people who are not conforming in some way or another with gender norms. They vary from known transsexuals such as French stars Bambi and Coccinelle to college women of the late nineteenth century who dressed as men to express their equality, with representations of many other reasons for presenting gender difference through dress: drag queens and kings, prisoner-of-war and concentration camp theatre shows, local trans groups and or just individuals from the West and other cultures, and (what I didn't know) ladies' college girls in mock wedding photos with women playing the groom, parson, best man and male guests (something that seems to have been all the rage a hundred years ago).
And, as an additional exhibition in another gallery, Grayson Perry's photo album, not showing him as his well-known alter-ego Claire, but in his younger years before he was famous just dressed largely as a middle-aged woman.
Altogether, an interesting exhibition. Entry £4 to these two exhibitions and the various others that are on.
I'm pleased to say that the friend who had her surgery a few weeks ago is recovering well. And one of my trans friends who was looking for work has found a job. Fingers crossed for the other.
This coming Saturday is Transgender Day of Visibility. I shall try to be visible.
Sue x
Sounds like you had a good week. Well, apart from the barrage of bilge from the usual suspects. I'm hoping the photography site comes back online soon (down for maintenance at the mo), as it sounds an interesting exhibition.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you ever look into the Casa Susanna photos from the 50s/60s?
http://time.com/3393976/casa-susanna-photographs-from-a-1950s-transvestite-hideaway/
Thanks for the link to the Susanna photos. How many centuries is it, I wonder, that trans people have been meeting in quiet havens simply to be themselves? I suspect Og, Ug and Zug found a nice dry cave in the Stone Age, dressed in softer, longer animal skins like their wives, called themselves Ogga, Ugga and Tracy, and painted selfies on the walls!
DeleteSorry the site was down when you looked. It's back now.
Sue x
That looks like an interesting exhibition. Would have loved to go and see it. I'm in London in June but not until after the exhibition closes.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a talk given in Brighton about trans people in sports, unfortunately the Q&A was wrecked by some trans exclusionary radical feminists.
Thanks for your comment, Jenna. It's worth seeing, and if you can't make it to London I think the exhibition is one that travels round to other places.
DeleteSorry to hear of the TERFs at the sports talk. If you are in the Brighton area you could check out Stella Michaels' travelling photo exhibition of Transworkers that pops up all over Sussex and Surrey (I think it's in Lewes just at present).
Sue x
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