I used to post regularly about trans creativity in the world of arts, music and books but last year's difficulties didn't give me so much time. For this Pride Month, though, I'm back to pointing out just a few pro-LGBT items from the creative side of things I've read about this week to add to last week's post about positive news form the worlds of science and current affairs.
Art
1) David Hockney, one of the foremost painters and stage designers of our era, died a few days ago, aged 88. He was bold in depicting queer themes when homosexuality was still illegal. Here's a BBC obituary showing his 1961 painting We 2 Boys Together Clinging and the naked Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool from 1966. These works suggested same-sex relationships were peaceful and normal. As this obituary in The Guardian points out, rather than the direct activist approach, Hockney's art presented beauty, intimacy and desire in a way that anyone could identify with. Along with his old-fashioned notion that people like art that they can understand, this created a winning formula, to the benefit of the whole queer community. I have often felt that the oblique approach like this is often better than head-on clashes. Life for LGBT+ people is perfectly normal, except that we either prefer same-sex relationships or simply living as the gender we feel most akin to. I can say that it's the quiet banality of everyday living as a woman that gives me more joy than anything.
2) Pop art: Andy Warhol in Ferrara
Fifty years ago, Andy Warhol presented an exhibition at Ferrara, Italy, entitled Ladies and Gentlemen, 105 works depicting Manhattan's drag queens. It was a departure from his previous work depicting Mao or Monroe in that none of the portraits were of famous people. That exhibition is currently being commemorated in the same place with more of his works. The gallery's introduction in English here: Ladies & Gentlemen
3) Photography: Robert Mapplethorpe in Milan
Iconic photographer of the '60s to '80s; the exhibition in Milan of his sculptural male nudes, drag queens and other queer people has, sadly, just ended but was well received and was put on largely to coincide with the winter olympics. Short English description here.
Musicals
"Freak! the Musical" is an Italian steampunk spectacle set in 1892 in the imaginary city of Janua. The Freaks, rejects from science experiments, live underground trying to find dignity in a world that would rather they did not exist. Their lives are transformed by visionary street artist Maxwell Butler and impoverished nobleman and inventor Lucius Doria Lagoscuro who turn the Freaks' diversity into art and present them as amazing artists rather than monsters. The question is raised as to how far a person is prepared to go to live authentically and be one's their real self. The writer and director is Teresa Vatavuk, it features singers from MayVoice and dancers from the Naima Academy, and has been playing in theatres across Italy, including locally this Pride month. There is a trans/CD aspect to it but any diverse person can relate to it.
I'll try to catch it one day. Although a lot of the musical numbers are sung in English and taken directly from the 2017 film The Greatest Showman, as a stage musical look it reminds me somewhat of Ben Elton's Queen musical We Will Rock You.
Preview of the characters here Freak! and there's a trailer on another page.
Dance
I used to play the accordion but can't do so any more following a workplace injury but I've always quite liked tango music.
I read that in the world of of tango, there is now a strong Queer Tango movement. The tango is a sensual and athletic dance with, traditionally, a strong, leading male role and a following female role, from the days of early 20th-century Argentina when there was a glut of immigrant menfolk in town and women were scarce. Therefore, only the strongest, most protective, most physically fit men would attract a female, and the dance reflects that. Argentina successfully exported this dance all over the world and now, in the 21st Century, with much greater equality between the sexes, both in numbers and even in social clout, and the increasing strength of the LGBT community, the distinctions between man and woman in the dance are being replaced by any person who wishes to be in either role. For some years now there has been a Tango entre mujeres (women's tango) group in Buenos Aires and many similar elsewhere in the world, with regular tango shows featuring just women, and any number of other combinations of dancers, with skirts for men in following roles if they wish and shoes to suit the participant not the role. You don't have to be queer to take part, just learn the leader's or follower's steps at your pleasure. But you can see the attraction for the trans/CD community.
Film
The drag comedy Stop! That! Train! has arrived and I see no reason not to see it since it's got silly comedy and drag queens and sends up all those disaster movies my granny used to love and insisted I watch when I was little and which I'm still in therapy for. Reviews are generally favourable. One reviewer described it as having the tired format of a David Zucker movie (Airplane, Naked Gun) but as I'm quite a tired format myself this sounds like a plus! I'm sure it's not a coincidence that it's opened in Pride Month and the week Donald Trump tries to celebrate a birthday.
Trailer here:
Arts and Pride conclusion
The world of the arts has always been openly alternative and I myself found myself accepted without question when I had an art studio in London. Queer creatives have always expressed themselves no matter the underlying political climate. I am sure that will continue.
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| Self-portrait (2012) |
Happy Pride.
Sue x
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