PHENOMENA OF THE FIERCE
Patricia Highsmith, 1921-1995, glossy photos, reprinted photos, specialty paper, acrylic paint, 12” X 16”, 2020
Phenomena of The Fierce are intimate mixed media collages of older, butch women who have achieved public recognition. The works imagine a personal source of strength from which fortitude springs. Each figure is paired with a symbol representing a life force, such as plants representing growth, fire and lightening revealing strength and power, and the snake signifying an eternal symbol of rebirth. Just as the subjects themselves constructed their own identities the images are pieced together from different sources: b&w photographs, images of Greek statuary, ephemeral materials and acrylic paint. The images are infused with characteristics inherent in self-assured butches of a bygone era who defiantly fended for their rights, dykes still possessed by the spirit of their inner strength despite their aging bodies. Here they are figured as bodies of stone, rendering them heroic and timeless.
Phenomena of Force came out of an earlier body of work Queer Before Queer a series of collaged portraits of older butch lesbians, an homage to those who have pioneered the gender-queer present.
As a woman, a lesbian and an older person I experience discrimination on all three fronts. Throughout my life I have contended with being marginalized as a queer woman. Aging adds a layer to that displacement. These portraits lay bare the determination to live one’s entire life outside gendered margins--identities that are not trans and not femme, but somewhere along the spectrum. My intention is to have others see what I see…fierce women who are still a force to be reckoned with even with physical signs of age.
Phenomena of Force came out of an earlier body of work Queer Before Queer a series of collaged portraits of older butch lesbians, an homage to those who have pioneered the gender-queer present.
As a woman, a lesbian and an older person I experience discrimination on all three fronts. Throughout my life I have contended with being marginalized as a queer woman. Aging adds a layer to that displacement. These portraits lay bare the determination to live one’s entire life outside gendered margins--identities that are not trans and not femme, but somewhere along the spectrum. My intention is to have others see what I see…fierce women who are still a force to be reckoned with even with physical signs of age.
Phenomena of The Fierce: Leslie Feinberg, 1949-2014, glossy photos, reprinted photos, artificial plants, acrylic paint,
12” X 16”
Martina Navratilova 1956–, glossy photos, reprinted photos, metal studs, acrylic paint, 12” X 16”, 2021
Eileen Miles, 1921-1995, glossy photos, reprinted photos, specialty paper, oil paint, 12” X 16”, 2021
Audre Lorde, 1934-1992, magazine pages,glossy photos,acryllic paint
add cake decoration confections to the materials, 12" x 16" 2022
