MU Catalogue / Genderblender

www.etalorsmagazine.com

editorial
Just under a year ago I received an email from
multidisciplinary artist Hanneke Wetzer. If I wanted to
take a look at the X%Y% project she had done together
with Leonie Baauw and if I perhaps could say something
sensible about it. I looked. I looked again. And the
question raised by this series of photos hiding behind a
cryptic title refused to let go of me. ’To what percentage
do you feel female and, correspondingly: to what
percentage do you feel male?’
Well… good question. I am certainly not 100% of one or
the other, and neither is MU. MU could go either way.
In Zen Buddhism MU actually represents something of
a third option, beyond dichotomous, black and white
thought. MU creates space in which to put off choices and
see what happens next.
Doing so you can easily end up in grey areas where
everything is shifting, zones where nothing is what
it appears to be. Zones where so much more can
happen than you would initially think, areas where
anti-disciplinary thought prevails, narrow-mindedness
dissolves and creativity has free rein.
Only to ask yourself this question, or to ask others as a
parlour game, opens the door to an intriguing world. One
that feels like home to more people than you might expect
and that has been expressed by numerous artist in so
many ways. Not problematic, but confident and inspired.
For several years, Et Alors? Magazine has been giving
this world a voice as well as many faces. Conchita Wurst,
who out of the blue won the European Song Contest,
is only one of them. Where she, with her voice and her
beard, conquered the entertainment hierarchy we, with
GenderBlender, take aim at the visual culture. Driven by a
fascination that cares little for sexuality alone but rather
accentuates social and personal aspects of gender instead.
And most of all open to conversations that cannot be held
often enough, with ourselves and with others.
GenderBlender brings together the work of over twenty
artists who, in some way or another, have taken up gender
diversity as a recurrent theme. Their work is about borders
and dreams, about imagination. It is about how you feel,
who you are, and who you can be.
Angelique Spaninks
Director MU
genderblender 3

mu eindhoven
june - aug 2014
editor in chief
fleur pierets
art director & layout
julian p. boom
copy editing
nanne op ‘t ende
contributors
barbara nordhjem
clover leary
dennis veldman
emilie jouvet
eric charles
gabriel maher
han hoogerbrugge
hannah honeywill
heather cassils
jj levine
jonas lindström
matthijs holland
m. driessen
pyuupiru
rené moritz
robin black
silvia b.
tareq de montfort
wetzer & baauw
willem popelier
table of contents
editorial
table of contents
heather cassils
gabriel maher
rein vollenga
antoine timmermans
silvia b.
barbara nordhjem
pyuupiru
han hoogerbrugge
sven ratzke
hannah honeywill
matthijs holland
wetzer & baauw
louise de ville
tareq de montfort
willem popelier
wetransfuse
beanotherlab
jj levine
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et alors? magazine 2014
www.etalorsmagazine.com
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genderblender

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genderblender
june 6 – august 17, 2014
mu I strijp s
torenallee 40-06
eindhoven, the netherlands
opening hours
tuesday to friday 10.00-18.00
saturday 11.00-17.00
sunday 13.00-17.00
et alors? magazine
info@etalorsmagazine.com
et alors? magazine special
mu eindhoven
mu@mu.nl
this is an et alors? magazine special on the genderblender exhibition at mu eindhoven.
written and designed by fleur pierets and julian p. boom.
with a selection of artists by mu director angelique spaninks and guest curators hanneke
wetzer and leonie baauw.
cover model
name sven ratzke
location berlin, germany - amsterdam, the netherlands
talents classy performer, intelligent improvisor, strong scent of berlin nightclub cabaret
website www.sven-ratzke.com
photography dennis veldman
styling joost gimbel
model sven ratzke
mua joost gimbel
genderblender 5

© heather cassils & robin black 2011

heather
cassils
interview fleur pierets photos heather cassils

Cassils first caught our eye in the ‘Telephone’
video, where the performance artist and personal
trainer made out with Lady Gaga in the prison yard.
Intrigued about this appearance, we discovered a
highly intelligent artist who pushes the boundaries
of the body while making statements on today’s
perception of the image. Creating a visual language
that uses the physical body as sculptural mass,
Cassils turns exercise into a metaphor for a society
that is obsessed with consumption and surface.
Can you tell me about your art?
I used to paint and draw a lot when I was a child. I remember
that when I was 6 years old, I won a drawing competition.
I always was a bit of a weird kid and I think that was the first
time I have ever been acknowledged. Although I work with
the body now, I was always a kind of secret painter. And I do
watercolours, but don’t tell anyone!
Why did you start working with your body?
I started making art with my body for different reasons.
Partially it was due to education. When I was 20, I worked for
The Franklin Furnace, NYC’s largest non-profit organisation
dedicated to performance art. Here I was hugely exposed
to epic body based performances that they housed in their
archives. I went to Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, an
art school in Canada heavily influenced by 70’s conceptualism
and I got my masters from California Institute of the Arts,
where I read a lot of Marxist theory and learned about
institutional critique from Michael Asher, who remains to this
day, a big influence.
I also came to my body through an illness I survived as a child.
It sounds rather benign but it was called undiagnosed bladder
disease. What it meant was that for 4 years, I was sick but they
would tell my family that it was something in my mind. That
it was a psychosomatic issue. It got to the point where my
bile ducts ruptured and my skin actually turned green. When
they opened me up I was literally rotting. I was hospitalized
for a couple of months and almost died. It made me want to
know all about the body. Not just intuitively, but understand it
scientifically. So that I could not only be more in tune with it,
but I could advocate for my body and teach others to do so as
well. I learned early on how sexist and dismissive the medical
establishment can be.
Your work tends to respond to a specific context.
It does, take for example the ‘Cuts: A Traditional Sculpture’
piece. I was asked by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
(LACE), a non-profit arts organization here in LA, to respond to
the trajectory of work that was created in southern California
from the early 60’s to the mid 80’s: to look into the archive
and to find work that I found inspiring. I ended up making a
reinterpretation of Eleanor Antin’s 1972 performance ‘Carving:
A Traditional Sculpture’ in which Antin crash dieted for 45 days
and documented her body daily with photographs. It resulted
in 72 photographs showing how she starved herself. Rather
8
genderblender

© heather cassils 2011

© heather cassils & eric charles 2012

than crash diet, I built my body to its maximum capacity
over 23 weeks. I did this by adhering to a strict bodybuilding
regime. I had designed a diet where I consumed the caloric
intake of a 180-pound male athlete. I documented my body
as it changed, taking four photos a day, from four vantage
points. I collapsed 23 weeks of training into 23 seconds,
creating a time-lapse video.
Quite an extreme thing to do.
Absolutely, but I wanted it to be extreme. And you mustn’t
forget that Antin’s work was made in a different era. Now you
can easily find websites like ‘Thinspiration’ – an inspiration
website for women who want to be anorectic. There is just so
much more of an extreme in our society these days. It is very
different from the 70’s. I got very interested in marrying that
kind of political criticism with the extreme image fascination
of contemporary society. I felt that it wasn’t enough for me
to just lift a little weights. I wanted to take the project to a
maximum capacity, to be extremely regimented. That being
said, I think the definition of extreme is relative. Personally I
think it is really extreme to sit at a desk all day and eat shitty
food. What I do is a performance of an extremity that already
exists in our society. I am interested in taking things to a
heightened level, to show the boundaries and to exaggerate
the other end of the spectrum. To show the construction
of these ideas and expand the notions around the body by
‘mis’ performing them. That being said, of course I don’t just
rush into things. With the ‘Cuts’ piece I had my blood tested
to make sure all my levels where within a healthy range. I
made sure that I wasn’t compromising myself. I do things
just like a stunt person would do it. I take risks but they are
calculated risks. I always train with precision and with balance
for my artwork towards a specific goal. For ‘Cuts’ I had to gain
muscle, for ‘Becoming An Image’ I had to lose muscle and
have an incredible cardiovascular ability. For my next piece I
have to learn to expend my breath. My work is a daily process
of preparing myself. It doesn’t feel hard on my body, in fact
it feels hard on my body to eat bad food and drink a lot of
alcohol. Not that I am this crazy, rigid person. I do live a little,
you know.
Can you talk more about the concept of hyper performance
or themes of exaggeration in your work?
An artists’ work translate their subjective experiences in the
world and their work provides a formal representation of
these observations. I live in Los Angeles, the centre for the
industrialised production of images. Yes, I am interested in
exaggerating the parameters around gender, and therefore
revealing their construction but then I am also interested in
unpacking the way that images are made in a similar way. Take
for example the ‘Becoming an Image’ piece. The performance
took place in a completely light-free environment. The only
elements in the space were the audience, a photographer,
myself and a block of clay weighing 2000 pounds. Throughout
the performance, I used my skills as a boxer/fighter to unleash
a full-blown attack on the clay, literally beating the form.
The only light source emitted came from the flash mounted
on the photographer’s camera, so you become very aware
of the way a photograph is taken. This performance raising
‘I am interested in
taking things to a
heightened level, to
show the boundaries
and to exaggerate
the other end of the
spectrum. To show the
construction of these
ideas and expand the
notions around the body
by ‘mis’ performing
them.’
questions of witnessing, documentation, memory and
evidence. You become aware of your own position in the room
and you realise that what you are seeing, is different from
what another viewer experiences. It makes one think critically
about a document.
Why do you identify as Genderqueer/ Transgender. Isn’t
this just another box?
Because I do not opt to fully transition. My breasts are intact,
my voice still identified as a female voice my lack of facial
hair or male pattern baldness. I am read some times as male,
depending on the amount of muscle I carry on my frame,
but more often as an angry aggressive woman defying my
biological gender roles. In this way I am always read as female.
That doesn’t feel good. I don’t insist that people call me by
male pronounce, that kind of happened on its own, but people
always put you in a box. Whether you like it or not. So I think
it is important to provide information. To quote Kathy Acker:
‘I am looking for the body, my body, which exists outside its
patriarchal definitions. Of course that is not possible. But who
is any longer interested in the possible?’
It relates to my work in a way that it is all about shifting
the vision, the parameter, instead of judging at first sight.
Identifying like this doesn’t put me in a fixed position because
my work is all about being unfixed. Let’s say the work is ahead
of the pronoun.
And do you succeed in communicating that message?
It really depends. For the ‘Cuts’ piece I created a slick photo
pointing towards the fashion industry called ‘Advertisement:
Homage to Benglis’. This image was made at the height of my
muscularity after 123 days of intense dieting, training and six
weeks on steroids. A trans man told me that if he had seen this
image ten years ago, he might have made a different decision
with his body. That’s quite an interesting reaction as it shows
the lack of representations for people with non normative
bodies and the importance in creating those representations.
But I also had pages and pages of transphobic hate mail when
genderblender 11

© clover leary 2010

I launched a project on the Huffington gay voices section.
You want to open people’s brains a bit.
I aim to contradict the notion that, in order to change one’s
sex one must undergo major surgery and commit to a lifetime
of supplemental hormones. Sandy Stone, cultural/media
theorist and performance artist broaches this topic in her
‘Posttranssexual Manifesto’ when she problematizes the
medicalization of transgender identities. In order to obtain
hormones, or receive a referral for gender reassignment
surgery, a trans‐identified person must answer a battery
of questions according to a certain rubric: For example, in
pursuit of differential diagnosis a question sometimes asked
of a prospective transsexual is: ‘Suppose that you could be
a man - or a woman - in every way except for your genitals,
would you be content?’
There are several possible answers, but only one is correct. In
case the reader is unsure, let me supply the clinically correct
answer: ‘No’.
Stone expounds upon the ‘wrong body’ discourse perpetuated
by this particular approach: in order to obtain the body they
desire, hopeful transsexuals must first admit that their current
body is in fact ‘wrong’ according to the arbitrary, but pervasive
dictates of the heteronormative gender binary, and is in
need of medical intervention to fix it. I do not claim to seek
to circumvent the medicalization of Trans identity but ‘Cuts’,
as a work taken in art historical context, addresses the issue
obliquely by playing with the formal qualities appropriated
from Antin’s Carving. However, where Antin’s is presented as a
bleak anthropometric record of a woman’s body deteriorating
under the pressure of society’s expectations, mine is a
monument to progress and personal ambition.
I am not saying I have a problem with medicalized transitions,
people have to make their own choices and I respect those
choices. But I have the feeling a lot of important critical
questions aren’t being asked about the medicalization of
trans bodies. We are living in a society where we are taught
that everything can be fixed by a simple pill. It is a microwave
mentality.
Keyword is being critical?
Yes, and critical doesn’t mean negative. Culture is shifting
very quickly and it is fashionable to be Trans these days. That
is strange for me because being Trans has always been about
maintaining another form of critical distance from the centre.
I would like to reference here Transgendered art historian
Susan Stryker, who writes: ‘Transgender has come to suggest
a crossing that may in fact have little to do with gender, much
less homosexuality. ‘It has come to mean the movement
across a socially imposed boundary away from an unchosen
starting place’. Rather than any particular destination or mode
of transition.
Can you tell me a bit more on expanding the notion around
politics and society.
We are living in a society that is obsessed with consumption
and surface. Where it is all about stability and fixedness. In
my work I like to question those obsessions. ‘Hard Times’
for example was made during the economic crisis of 2008,
in California. It was a crazy time where businesses where
closing and everybody was losing their jobs. Basically I saw
this character of a body builder as a metaphor for the kind of
emphases placed on surface. I was interested in taking this
character, this blond body builder, and have her stand for the
idea of a society that is crumbling under its own weight. Its an
illusion, in a way. I perform the piece on a building scaffold.
I hold a traditional body building pose but I slow it down
tremendously. So when you hold the muscular contraction
for an extended time, it creates a systematic overload of the
nervous system. The body starts to crumble under its own
contraction. I used that physiological phenomenon to inform
the subject matter. Another component is the sound, which
literally rumbles your insides. You see the body shake, the
scaffolding contract and the way the lighting cues are built
into the piece, reveals the construction of the image.
Do you consider yourself an activist?
I don’t know if I would call myself an activist. But when I look
at artists whose work I am really inspired by - Adrian Piper,
David Wojnarowicz, Eleanor Antin, Valiy Export, Kara Walker,
Tom of Finland, Douglas Emory, Ron Athey, Felix Gonzalez
Torres - I see that they are all using their minds, bodies and
subjectivity to talk about social issues. I see myself coming
from that space, being formed from that position. So I hope I
can contribute to a constructive conversation. So yes, maybe
that is a form of activism in a way.
What are you working on right now?
I am working on a new performance piece. As I said earlier, I
am living in this crazy city where almost everything is about
the industrial production of images for film and television.
This weird place where stories are being told about what is
happening elsewhere. During the war with Iraq I had all these
young actors in my gym, asking me to make them look like
a soldier for a role. And I was thinking about the simulation
of violence, the real violence and the distance between those
two things. So for my next piece I am going to perform a full
body burn. It will be a live performance but also the making of
a film. So people will see how I made this performance. They
can see that the violence is controlled and simulated, but can
also see the real danger. The image you see at first that looks
like a burning body. By the end of the film you will realize that
you have been manipulated to think that this is a traumatic
image, while it is a simulation of a traumatic image. I plan to
shoot it in slow motion. Because a fire stunt can only last for a
short amount of time, as long as you can exhale, if you inhale
during the performance, you burn your oesophagus. That is
the danger: the skin you can protect quite well but you have
to control your breath.
Your whole life revolves around your art.
I use my body in my work so yes, it is a daily process of
preparing myself. It gives me the purpose I need because
otherwise I would wonder about the point of it all.
www.heathercassils.com
genderblender 13

we are genderblending
name gabriel maher
location the netherlands
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU Eindhoven
in three lines?
This work implicates the ‘world of design’ in the sociocultural
construction of gender. It explores how mechanisms of design
(objects, clothing, space) have been shaping our behaviour in
gendered ways. How can we reshape it? The work is a hybrid
between performance and installation.
What is the genderblender angle?
This is about composition. Gender is composed, designed
and framed. Deconstructing established concepts of gender
enables a composition of our own making. The work is inspired
by a process of dismantling and rebuilding. This process is
applied to gender because its structures have also been built.
We become architects of our bodies and designers of our
identities. We merge, we blend, we cross and conjoin the
separations that exist in binary understandings of gender.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
I have a fascination with codes (dress codes, moral codes,
behavioural codes etc.) that have been assigned a gendered
meaning; it intrigues me profoundly to mess about with these
codes. Compose them, recompose and juxtapose them. I
love how this mixing can produce different meanings while
questioning established ones.
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to gender
roles, how would you identify yourself using a man/woman
ratio that adds up to 100%?
I feel strongly against the construction of this dual concept, I
feel that it inhibits understandings of gender beyond those of
established maleness and femaleness. I identify with a gender
that is outside this frame. Neither man or woman. Something
fluid and queer. I really like the qualities of zero.
Future dreams?
Such a nice question: I dream about unusual compositions of
human behaviour. Making the strange seem familiar and the
familiar seem strange.
14
genderblender

ein
vollenga
interview fleur pierets photos jonas lindström

You can call it ‘wearable sculpture’, if you really
want to give it a name. Those who would like to look
outside the box a bit might see an attractive work
of art, dark yet extremely seductive. Whether he is
a sculptor or a milliner, Rein Vollenga is a creative
artist first and foremost, with a positive outlook on
life and a healthy attitude towards success.
What triggers you to make such unique wearable sculpture
headpieces?
From an early age, I love making objects and working with my
hands. It surprises me and gives me satisfaction every day.
This is the main reason why I create. My work is about fantasy
and ambiguity and I hope to evoke something in the viewer’s
mind that will trigger their imagination. Either good or bad.
From where do you draw your inspiration?
I collect objects in my immediate surroundings. I browse in
supermarkets, party stores and I find things on the streets. I’m
highly fascinated by objects that are mass-produced and have
an organic or physical aesthetic like mannequins, packaging,
car parts etcetera. Furthermore I’m interested in traditional
craftsmanship. I love visiting museums of ancient, classical
and primitive art. It’s great to see objects that have been
made with love and dedication.
You moved to Berlin. How does the city influence your work?
I am very fortunate to live in a beautiful city full of history and
art and to be surrounded by many creative an inspiring people
like artists, musician performers and all kinds of free spirits.
I have a lot of opportunities to experiment, collaborate and
explore my creativity. Besides, as a gay man I don’t feel judged
for my looks and sexuality. In Berlin I can be whoever I want
to be.
You are an artist, also working in fashion. How do you
combine those two?
There is no difference between the two in how I approach
my work. The origin of my craft is sculpture. I just see art and
fashion as different platforms to show my work. Because I
don’t dismiss any platform, I can show my work in museums
and galleries, in music videos, on the catwalk and on the
internet. This gives me the opportunity to reach people who
don’t visit the - sometimes bourgeois and elitist - galleries
and museums. It makes my work available to everyone. As art
should be.
I read in an interview that you find it very important to be
true to yourself and others. Can you elaborate?
Just be dedicated to what you genuinely love to do in life,
and don’t talk bullshit. It is hard to pursue a career in art. As
a young artist you might not be appreciated immediately. My
advice is to work hard. This will be rewarded in the long run.
People love to make a lot of fuss about nothing these days.
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genderblender

‘Be dedicated to what you genuinely love to do in
life, and don’t talk bullshit. My advice is to work
hard. This will be rewarded in the long run.’
Check the celebrity pages for instance. People are famous
for being famous. Isn’t that hollow and sad? I would rather be
recognized and appreciated for what I do.
On your website you have two different categories:
‘sculpture’ and ‘wearable’. Do ‘ordinary’ people actually
wear your creations and who are your main customers?
Ordinary is not in my dictionary. I create unique pieces
so I mainly work on special projects with fashion brands,
performance artists and musicians.
Do you ever think of designing clothes?
Not really, but this might be something for the future. I can
imagine a collaboration with a fashion house. To create
some ready-to-wear limited editions in the future. I’m mainly
interested in the theatrical part of fashion shows.
Your work has a dark, hedonistic and fetishistic feel to it. Is
that your aim or just my imagination?
No, that is not my aim but just your naughty imagination
I guess. But I think you refer to the slick and glossy finish of
my works. I do understand what you mean with the dark
hedonistic and fetishistic feel but this only implicates what
fashion presumes a fetish to be. Here’s what the dictionary
says: ‘any object or non-genital part of the body that causes a
habitual erotic response or fixation.’
Your headpieces are – in my opinion – genderless. Is that a
conscious choice?
Yes, I don’t create pieces for a specific gender. I create my
objects as an extension of the human body.
You once said that you make a piece almost every day. Is
this still the case and how do you keep up?
Yes I still do. I work on several projects a day. But since the
making of a sculpture has many stages, there’s always
something to do. It might sound obsessive but it all comes
natural to me.
You had numerous collaborations with people like Mugler,
Lady Gaga, Johnny Woo, etc. and you have been featured
in Dazed and Confused, I-D, Interview and many other
magazines. Any future dreams?
Yes! I would love to create stage designs and costumes for
opera, ballet or contemporary dance in the future.
www.reinvollenga.com
www.reinvollenga.blogspot.de
genderblender 21

we are genderblending
name antoine timmermans aka cybersissy
location tilburg, the netherlands
website www. ongekendtalent.nl/cybersissy
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU Eindhoven
in three lines?
It is what I call ‘recycled glamour’. It combines both new and
recycled materials from my hometown recycle shop. The
creation’s richness comes from taking a long time to create
intuitively.
What is the genderblender angle?
To me, gender blending is like playing with Lego. As a ten-yearold,
I did my first transvestite performance at school. Never
saw a problem with it myself, still don’t. But it disturbs me
that others do. Society pushes you towards total prostitution
in order to survive, so I created a virtual prostitute. Both as a
mirror and as a survival strategy.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
It is simply there. I don’t question it, I celebrate it. It makes
me feel free.
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to gender
roles, how would you identify yourself using a man/woman
ratio that adds up to 100%?
I simply don’t care and find gender roles tiring. I disgust the
pressure. The world is very wrong in this respect.
Future dreams?
Many! I would love to design and create an attraction at
fantasyland and family park De Efteling in The Netherlands.
22
genderblender

© rené moritz, courtesy tim lienhard

silvia b.
interview fleur pierets photos & artwork silvia b.

She affectionately calls them ‘my boys’, when she talks
about her statues. A black and a white series of puppets
that almost seem to come alive and that are created
with a level of perfection that can only be understood
as love. Some of them, with names like Thinker, Ira Jr.,
Lord Rangda or Mors, are part of the series Les plus
Beaux, the most beautiful of them all. And that is what
they are, strangely hovering between man and animal,
transcending standard notions of beauty. In conversation
with a most versatile and intriguing artist, Silvia B.
All your statues are hybrids, age- and genderless yet
existing in some perfect illusion. Highly attractive at first
glance but disturbing at a closer look.
I like to make my sculptures as beautiful as possible and
I love them to be fluid. They are based on signs of our
time. Stereotypes taken to the max. Not only regarding
androgyny but also of genetic manipulation, cosmetic
surgery. In this day and age you can become whomever
you want to be or rather: whomever you have to be in order
to fit in.I try to make my sculptures as beautiful as I can,
just to arouse the viewers’ sense of duality. Attract them
with craftsmanship but unsettle them on second look.
Magnetism versus rejection. Not to mention doubt. I like
the audience to be in doubt before they judge: that it’s not
possible for them to instantly take a stand.
For me it is important that you have to think about whether
these creatures are beautiful or not and subsequently
whether they are good or bad. Doubt is the basis of all
thought and I like to advance that as a given. It is my vision
on beauty; a kind of beauty that isn’t appreciated most of
the time because there is always a dark side to it. Like film
stills: you never know what is going to happen next.
Your representations challenge not only our conceptions of
normality in regard to beauty but also in respect of human
behaviour.
I have always been interested in human behaviour. We are
still so very instinctive, aren’t we? Everything we do is based
on our desires and our fears. When you see someone on the
street who looks a bit different you instantly decide, within
three seconds, whether you are going to make eye contact
or not. Is the other person a winner or a loser? Do I want to
connect or could that be dangerous? We still behave like herd
animals and at the same time we think of ourselves as being
some kind of super-beings.
Super-beings with the possibility to explore genetic
manipulation, cosmetic surgery, artificial intelligence. Is
that why you made ‘Almost Perfect’?
This girl was sitting in my atelier for quite a long time. I found
her while strolling around a flea marked. She was so weird: an
old doll, an anorexic avant la lettre. I knew there was a statue
inside of her but I wasn’t quite sure where she was going. She
was my skinny teenager who didn’t know whether to fall in
love with boys or with girls. I gave her all the opportunities an
era of the makeable human has to offer; the endless growing
26
genderblender

possibilities of plastic surgery. Her skin is stitched together
and I gave her fashionably oversized lips. She is self-conscious
of her pubescent breasts and tiny penis. I offered her a choice
to grow into whomever she wanted to be.
And all of a sudden everything went black.
Once again I was drifting on the tide of time. Business was
going well but all of a sudden the crisis kicked in. People
bought less art; they were more careful with their money and
I had to jump into a new future without a parachute. That
was quite confronting. My white series exists very much in
the ‘here and now’. Little boys, decadent and aggressive yet
charming and confident regarding their place in time.
The black series, starting with ‘Les Bêtes Noires’, is different:
more introvert, more me maybe. Most of them have their
eyes closed. Not only to give the viewer the freedom to stare
but also to express an aloofness that borders denial. I wanted
to give them the possibility to shut out the rest of the world.
To be self-assured and in no need of approval.
You seem to have a huge fascination for the circus.
My father always told me that they found me at the queue of
a Russian parade. You are so weird, he said, you can’t be our
child. So I kept on hoping the Tsar and Tsarina would come to
get me and take me far away from these ordinary people. So
who knows: maybe that is where this interest came from? I
love the comical yet theatrical effect of the circus. Don’t you
think it is strange that we find it funny when people behave
like animals and vice versa? We buy tickets and laugh at
people who look displaced. And isn’t it weird that we decorate
our homes and ourselves with – literally – someone else’s
feathers. It is quite morbid to take pleasure in the remains of
dead animals. We think that we are some kind of superhuman
beings, that everything is there because of us. We use all
species except our own - well, exceptions left aside.
Children that are covered head-to-toe in hair are a constant
factor in your work.
Since time immemorial, extremely hairy people have been
exhibited in traveling circuses so this inevitably lead to ‘Le
Cirque’. A melancholic series of both children in fur and
animals behaving like people. The atmosphere of those fancy
fairs and the dubiously voluntary aspect of those shows made
me choose to create them all in black. Fit for an environment
where certain activities might not be suited to be exposed in
broad daylight. The fact that everything is black forces you to
concentrate on what you see, which strengthens the aspect
of voyeurism.
You are not only displaying your work, but people can
actually wear it. Your Skinover elbow length gloves offer
the possibility to brave the day in someone else’s skin.
When I started to create ‘Almost Perfect’, I first made her
hands and I was trying them on myself, feeling the touch
of the lambskin leather. Afterwards I couldn’t forget the
sensation of living in someone else’s skin, as if I were actually
wearing her. So that is where it all started. And since I like
to question our current concept of aesthetics, I involved
someone else’s tattoos, someone else’s birth marks, scars: to
‘I love fashion because it
is the only art form able to
react very quickly on what
is happening in the world.’
explore the edge between what is beautiful and what is not.
The gloves are ‘marked’ with what some people might call
imperfections: freckles, scars, hairy moles or even a mutantlike
extra thumb. Are they dissonances or signs of beauty? Is
everything that deviates from the norm a priori bad, strange?
A brown spot on the face of a young woman is called a beauty
mark; on the face of an old lady it is considered a shrew’s wart.
Understanding this makes mainstream thoughts regarding
beauty very relative.
Your work is closely related to fashion.
I love fashion because it is the only art form able to react very
quickly on what is happening in the world. Design, art and
architecture for example, are much slower in their reflection.
Fashion shows the way we are feeling in regard to politics or
social issues. I was 18 years old when punk made its entrance
and at the time, there weren’t any punk clothes or jewellery
available here in The Netherlands; I had to make everything
myself. I found them to be very creative and productive times.
The ideas of no tomorrow, no future, party every day and wear
your most beautiful clothes, were very inspiring. Since there
was no future you had to do everything Now: tomorrow might
be too late. In a way it is what I am still doing. Customizing
things, bringing all those dolls to my atelier to check if there
are statues hidden inside. I still play with dolls, only now I get
paid to do so.
Inspiration is lifestyle?
Yes. Magazines, movies, human behaviour, how we succeed in
society: all very inspirational but quite complicated. Life itself
is quite complicated so I like it if certain things stay the same.
For example, 20 years ago I chose to have this hairdo and I am
not going to change it anymore. I like to wear black, it feels
comfortable, I am not going to change it anymore. If I have to
make decisions about everything, I wouldn’t be able to work
so I make it simple. I choose to keep it simple.
Leaves me nothing but to ask about your future plans. We
have seen white, we have seen black. What else can we expect
from a very versatile artist who wants to keep life simple?
The future looks very exciting! I am heading towards a solo
exhibition and I don’t have a clue what I am going to show.
I want to make new work; start all over again. Long live the
internet where I can check images from all over the world
without leaving the comfort of my atelier. I’ll keep you posted!
www.silvia-b.com
www.skinover.biz
genderblender 29

we are genderblending
name barbara nordhjem
location groningen, the netherlands
website www.nordhjem.net
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU Eindhoven
in three lines?
Male or female? We usually decide within a single glance. With
the installation ‘Gender at first sight’ I would like to explore
how and why we visually categorise gender. It has a scientific
angle but is set in a playful and artistic context.
What is the genderblender angle?
My project is set in a near-future world where gender does
not exist as two binary categories. Fixed gender is no longer
standardly defined, and social interaction takes place without
making gender categorisations. Yet, a small group of the
population still makes an almost instantaneous man-woman
distinction.
For the exhibit I invented a disorder called Rigid Gender
Categorisation, which describes the tendency to immediately
decide whether people we see are male or female. Visitors are
invited to investigate how and why people with this disorder
insist on making gender definitions. The idea is to turn the
norm upside down, and ask what would happen if people
stopped thinking in two genders.
At the moment, I am still working on the installation. I have a
background in visual neuroscience and I am trying to illustrate
research showing the brain processes involved in visually
defining gender. I will also set up a mini lab and try to do some
experiments at the exhibit space. The idea is to have a closer
look at the mechanisms involved in perception of gender. If we
explore visual decisions most of us take almost automatically,
there is a possibility for questions and even change.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
What I like about science is that you get to question some of
the most basic things we usually take for granted. You have
to dig deeper and look into the underlying processes. Gender
is complex and it is not easy to separate biology from culture
and experience. I am particularly fascinated with ambiguity,
the point where there could be more interpretations instead
of a single gender label. Most vision scientists have a soft spot
for illusions and gender is a really interesting one! Are things
really as they seem or are first impressions deceiving?
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to gender
roles, how would you identify yourself using a man/woman
ratio that adds up to 100%?
Tough question for someone who likes to analyse things to
pieces! I would say 70% woman and 30% man although it
fluctuates a bit. I am a nerd but definitely an empathic one. I
have a lot of traits that are typically seen as feminine, so that
tips me more in the female direction.
Future dreams?
Debating and challenging gender is important and I am
honoured to participate in GenderBlender! It is also a fantastic
chance to work on some new ideas outside the lab. I would
love to do more projects combining art and science in the
future.
30
genderblender

pyuupiru
interview fleur pierets artwork pyuupiru
genderblender 33

‘I can never create work that lies.’ With those words Japanese
visual artist Pyuupiru captures exactly the sensation an
audience experiences when looking at her work. Starting off
as a creator of eccentric costumes designed as clubwear
that distorted her figure, Pyuupiru soon evolved into being
a creation herself, documenting the struggles that came
with her transformation from a male to a female body. An
exploration of physical and psychological transformation that
lead to the ‘Self-portrait Series’: a photographic work, created
over several years, that documents the artist’s experience
of sex reassignment surgery in a more than emotional and
empathic way. As a spectator you are taken on a genuine and
true voyage under the artist’s skin, leaving you behind with the
hope that Pyuupiru will once become a very happy girl.
Your work is based on delusions and obsessions. Is this on
a personal level?
Yes, only on a personal level since my body is the core of my
work.
The ‘Self-portrait Series’ explores physical and psychological
transformation. How did you find your form, your language,
to express those series?
The work portrays images occurring in my mind. My personal
memory of boyhood, nightmares caused by hormone
replacement therapy and psychoactive drugs, and ideal selfimage.
All these elements combined resulted in my ‘Selfportrait
Series’. Yet the final images were envisioned without
any logic. They just happened.
How important is the concept of gender to you? Both as an
artist and on a personal level?
I am an artist and an individual person at the same time. I
can only be me. Basically my opinion on gender comes from
my personal experience and struggle, so it remains the same
in both circumstances. I am unintentionally projecting my
opinion on gender onto my artwork yet I find it wonderful if
my work triggers other people to face themselves sincerely.
When and why did you decide to fully go for sex reassignment
surgery?
It was in July 2007. I ended my one-way love for a straight man,
an experience that made me decide to get sex reassignment
surgery. I was into hormone replacement therapy and castration
since 2003. So already sexually neutral. Looking back, I can
say the decision for sex reassignment surgery didn’t come
out of the blue but was rather a part of the process that I was
gradually going through.
Your images are quite aggressive. Can you tell me why?
I hated the consciousness of my own body and gender.
I like strong expressions because I am mentally weak.
What do you want your spectators to see/feel/experience?
I want my viewers to see and feel something beyond shapes,
forms and visual elements. In other words, I want them to
experience the spirit living in my artwork, to feel afresh when
leaving the gallery.
You also do performances. What are you aiming for?
I try to create performances that confront the audience with
momentarily power, beat, energy, atmosphere, unexpectedness
34
genderblender

‘My work portrays
images occurring
in my mind. My
personal memory of
boyhood, nightmares
caused by hormone
replacement therapy
and psychoactive
drugs, and ideal
self-image. All these
elements combined
resulted in my Selfportrait
Series.’
and spontaneity. I don’t impose any opinion on the spectators.
It is up to them what they want to feel. I can only think of the
phrase ‘wholeness of existence’ to describe my performance
work.
You started off designing wild, handmade costumes. You
evolved into physical metamorphosis. Is this - for you - a
logical evolution?
Yes. As time goes by, we grow both qualitatively and
quantitatively; expanding our capacity. We continue to add
various elements and new points of view to our personality,
until we are like a bunch of grapes. I think this is the life of
people from birth to death.
Future dreams and plans?
I am participating in exhibitions in Europe from this spring
to autumn. The exhibitions will be in Sweden, Denmark and
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Holland. For the future,
I dream of living in beautiful nature surrounded by many cats,
spending all day knitting in a rocking chair beside a fireplace.
However, before I reach that point, I must create an artwork
that will remain unique for generations. This might take an
immeasurable period of time.
www.pyuupiru.com
genderblender 39

we are genderblending
name han hoogerbrugge
location bikini island
website www.hoogerbrugge.com
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU Eindhoven
in three lines?
A work named: ‘Parade’. Showing a large procession, not
including a marching band, of a festive nature. Held in honor
of mankind.
What is the genderblender angle?
You will know it when you see the parade.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
Who said gender fascinates me?
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to gender
roles, how would you identify yourself using a man/woman
ratio that adds up to 100%?
Being a Vulcan that is a difficult question to answer, not to
mention highly illogical!
Future dreams?
MOMA or die.
40
genderblender

sven
ratzke
interview fleur pierets photos dennis veldman
genderblender 43

Hovering between vaudeville and jazzy chansons,
conference and cabaret; playing for full houses in
New York, Berlin, Zürich and London (just to name a
few cities), Sven Ratzke is not easily captured in a few
words. Describing him as a classy performer and an
intelligent improviser dressed in eccentric costumes,
with a strong scent of Berlin nightclub cabaret, might
be a start. We leave it up to him to clear things up.
What makes it so difficult to describe Sven Ratzke?
I do so many different things that it might be difficult to
categorise, to place in a box. People often have to actually
see the show to know what it is all about. I am not an easy
act for the program leaflets. I always say I like to flirt with the
1920’s vaudeville, that kind of popular improvisation theatre
with its interesting mix of songs and comedy conference. The
idea that once you are on stage, anything is possible. And
yes, maybe it isn’t easy to capture my performances in one
word, but then again: I am not a big fan of all those boxes.
They might be convenient sometimes, but not for me. As a
consequence it remains a bit elusive and it takes much more
time to bring it across to the audience.
Do you really think it takes a lot of time?
Let’s say it took me a while before I defined my genre as a
performer. I am not the kind of cabaret artist that comes
straight from the academy. I am a ‘learning by doing’ kind of
person. Learning by traveling the world. It is a very personal
approach and finding my form was quite a journey.
I was raised in an old hippy convent where I performed in front
of all the adults. Ever since I was a kid, it was obvious that I
was going to be on stage but when I went to an actor’s studio,
I hated it. I wanted to make my own pieces so I started off in
theatre but soon, I switched radically to performing songs by
Fassbinder, Brecht and Weill. I loved and still love those threeminute
mini dramas so it was a very logical step to take. Of
course the performance still lacked identity but it was a good
start. Soon after that, I found myself in the Berlin scene with
people like Georgette Dee. I was standing barefoot on stage
because I didn’t have the money to buy the shoes I really liked.
And now you are performing all over the world.
Sometimes I wonder: when did that happen? I realise that
I have to be more aware of the great life I am living. On the
other hand, you still need to keep on working. As an artist
you never reach a point where you can say: ‘that’s it’. You lose
things very easily and you have to keep on evolving. The more
fame, the more misery! How is that for a quote?
Since last year you have been playing ‘Hedwig and the Angry
Inch’ in Berlin and now the show is coming to The Netherlands.
I don’t see myself as an actor but when they asked me to play
Hedwig, it was too beautiful a role to just let go. It is a theatre
play about Hedwig, born a boy named Hansel in East Berlin,
44
genderblender

who fell in love with an American G.I. and underwent a sexchange
operation in order to marry him and flee to the West.
Unfortunately, nothing worked out quite as planned and years
later, Hedwig is touring the US with her rock band, telling her
life story through a series of concerts. I made the play my
own by doing a large part of the re-writing and making a new
German translation. Apart from the music band it is a oneman
show in which I perform all the characters.
Do you relate to such a character?
Hedwig doesn’t belong and I very much relate to that. I always
wanted to play something different, something extreme.
Hedwig is neither man nor woman. She is very in-between.
That raises many questions and for some people it is troubling,
for others it is like a warm bath. Yet it is a universal piece about
someone looking for her other half. Besides that, I always
dreamed of playing a woman. To physically undergo that
transformation and look at the possibilities as an entertainer.
As a woman, you have many more possibilities then when you
are a man. When I place my foot on the table, all of a sudden
that is seductive instead of tough. Since I have been playing
that part, I noticed I want more of the same. I want to explore
the transformational side of me.
Yet you don’t define yourself as an actor.
No, and that is because I am quite obstinate and I have a lot
of ideas. I always thought that being an actor was something
very creative. That you are creating something at least. But
you are still at the service of others. That is why there is so
much of myself in Hedwig: she could be my sister, so to speak.
It is my energy. Even if I would play, for example, a joker or a
Nazi, it would still be me.
Back to the creations that are entirely your own. I guess
it isn’t easy to switch from Hedwig to an entirely different
performance.
One week, I play Hedwig and the other I play my own shows.
So switching from one gender to another is indeed a duality
that needs focus. But I also switch between playing in sold out
concert halls in New York and small villages in The Netherlands.
As a performer you have to be flexible in your response to the
audience. The US for example is very different from Berlin. In
Berlin the audience reacts like they have already seen it all. In
New York they say: ‘give it to me baby’. So you give it to them!
That is an entirely different atmosphere and as an entertainer
you have to be able to anticipate. You have to find a form you
are comfortable with and that is versatile enough to reach the
largest possible audience.
The press talks about you in terms of ‘the unparalleled sex
bomb of German variety’ and ‘an artistic phenomenon that
continues to surprise’. Are you becoming a diva because of
all these superlatives, Sven?
Of course I am! I love divas! Diva behaviour isn’t a negative
thing, you know. When you are misbehaving, you are called
a Prima Donna. A diva is someone who gives everything and
expects the same from you. When I arrive somewhere and
things are not arranged properly, I just go home. Does that
make you a diva? No, it is being professional.
Nowadays there are no divas anymore. Everybody is
approachable and I really don’t like the fact that everyone’s
life is out in the open. I like a bit of magic. Take Marlene
Dietrich for example. She dressed in a suit, smoked cigarettes
and - allegedly - had affairs with both men and women. She
was androgynous, not because she thought it was progressive
but because some things just are what they are. In contrast to
the present time in which everything we do is public, she was
very mysterious. Of course that added to the image.
You are a nostalgic person.
I do have a tendency for nostalgia. I can get very sad about lost
grandeur but I love classiness mixed with street credibility.
Even though I will never perform in a T-shirt and like my glitter,
I am still one of the common people. I like playing in clubs,
very close and intimate.
You said earlier that you are stubborn, that you want to
decide everything yourself. How does that work?
With every project, I insist on my own crew. My own musicians,
photographers, technicians, you name it. Even in the shows,
during encounters with wonderful artists like soprano
Claron McFadden or Nina Hagen, I am the producer. I like my
independence and I don’t want an agent to tell me what to do
or where to play. I intend to keep it that way because even as
an artist, I have a strategy to continue growing. You have to
keep a close eye on yourself if you want to stay fresh. If you
move between a sad song and wild hilarity, you have to be
focused. It still has to be authentic. So although performing
is an addiction, I still want to be in control and keep all my
options open. Luckily the world is full of opportunities!
www.sven-ratzke.com
‘When I arrive
somewhere and
things are not
arranged properly,
I just go home.
Does that make
you a diva?
No, it is being
professional.’
genderblender 47

we are genderblending
name hannah honeywill
location birmingham, england
website www.hannahhoneywill.co.uk
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU Eindhoven
in three lines?
A 12-meter drawing of a vertebrate. On closer inspection it
contains other organs like a mouth, genitalia, feet, reproductive
system, ribs, shoulder blades, eyes and more. All blended into
the surface of the bone. I also show a queered anatomical
drawing of a lesbian hand and a queered edition of Gray’s
anatomy textbook.
What is the genderblender angle?
The work looks to unfold, confuse and disorientate from the
expected. It is important that it retains its undecide-ability. The
work allows for the re-categorising, re-occupying, re-owning,
protecting and rejecting of anatomy and gender.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
During my research into queer theory I became aware of
how gender has remained a defining feature in our social,
economic and political lives. I am fascinated and excited by
the possibilities queer theory offers to expand our horizons
and understanding of gender. The concept of erasing gender
completely is mind blowing, exciting and revolutionary!
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to gender
roles, how would you identify yourself using a man/woman
ratio that adds up to 100%?
This fluctuates on a daily basis and is dependent on who I am
with and which social context I am in.
Future dreams?
For the gender revolution to happen and to live in a nongendered
world!
48
genderblender

matthijs
holland
interview fleur pierets photos matthijs holland
genderblender 51

What do historic figures like Hatshepsut,
Pope Joan, Segawa Kikunojo III,
Henry III of France and Charlotte von
Mahlsdorf have in common? Visual artist
Matthijs Holland told us all about it.
Do tell!
I wanted to create a photo project based on freedom and
tolerance regarding gender. First I had my sight on the future,
thinking about an ideal world and how wonderful it would be if
the concept of gender would no longer be based on any norm
or definition. When I decided to look at the past first in order
to understand the future, I found many historical figures who
disregarded social conventions. They broke with the socially
imposed norms of their days. None of these figures from the
past fit the role that was created for them. They could not
conform to the restrictions they encountered and broke free
from them. They show us that questioning gender doesn’t
specifically belongs to our culture: it is of all times. It has
always been there. The norm in regard to gender is much too
limited and unrealistic.
Can you explain your vision on gender?
Each sex is enclosed by a strict socially imposed norm.
Masculinity belongs to the man and femininity to the woman.
Anything that falls outside either category does not belong to
the majority and is unfamiliar territory. The unknown doesn’t
fit in the social straitjacket and can’t be easily understood
anymore. Because of that, it causes fear and rejection by a
large number of people. Dominant women are attacked for
their lack of femininity and sensitive men are not considered to
be ‘real’ men. People whose gender role doesn’t fit the socially
imposed norm have to justify themselves to society. However,
between the stereotypical man and the stereotypical woman
lies a broad spectrum where they gradually blend together
and fall outside of the norm.
So you made a work of art to address these issues.
I searched for a strong basis to tell those stories. I looked at
history and brought these historical figures into the present
because gender is a universal theme of all times. It is very
close to me as a person and a visual communicator.
The series is called NormAll.
I have the strong opinion that ‘everything’ should be the norm.
Then words like ‘norm’ and ‘normal’ wouldn’t exist. The man/
woman norm is very limited so I called it NormAll.
Who are the people in the series?
The timeline of portraits shows five inspiring people who
each in their own way could not conform to the predominant
expectations. Hatshepsut, who did the unthinkable in a male-
52
genderblender

‘It is my idea that
gender is a flexible
state, evolving
constantly and moving
like a wave. Dependent
on the phase you are
going through.’
dominated world and crowned herself pharaoh. Pope Joan
who, by disguising herself as a man, could escape the female
straitjacket of the Middle Ages and was acknowledged for
her talents. The Japanese actor Segawa Kikunojo III, who was
so feminine that he became the role model for geishas. And
Henry III of France and Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who each in
their own time chose to step outside of the expected gender
roles to truly be themselves.
You chose to make self-portraits, dressed as those five
people. Why?
During my research, I read a lot of books by Judith Butler
in which she writes about performativity. She asserts that
‘Gender is an impersonation and becoming gendered involves
impersonating an ideal that nobody actually inhabits’. Gender
is an ongoing, evolving element that isn’t determined at
birth. By considering myself a blanc canvas I was receptive
to assume the role of those historical figures. To be entirely
honest I must say that Ru Paul’s ‘Drag Race’ was also very
inspiring on the concept of transformation.
What conclusion did you arrive at from studying both past
and present?
It is my idea that gender is a flexible state, evolving constantly
and moving like a wave. Dependent on the phase you are
going through. At times you give your male side more space,
at times you are more in touch with your feminine side. When
it comes to sexuality - and I don’t confuse gender with sexuality
- people are more fluid. I see it as a percentage. Some are more
hetero or gay than others.
When we are talking about conclusions from studying the
past, let’s be fair: where do we stand when it comes to gender
in the 21st Century? In many places in the world women still
have to fight to be heard, feminine men and homosexuals are
being violently attacked or even punished with death, and
transgender people are still being looked upon as a curiosity.
Have we moved forward through history or have we become
even stricter? Which stories of our time will we add to this
portrait gallery in 10 years?
www.matthijsholland.nl
genderblender 55

wetzer
&
baauw
interview fleur pierets photos wetzer & baauw
genderblender 57

Wetzer & Baauw is a collaboration between
multi-disciplinary artists Hanneke Wetzer and
Leonie Baauw. They have been working together
for several years and share a fascination for
gender issues, exploring both the visual aspects
and the social and cultural impact. Their art
projects invariably incite discussion and show
a large grey area between ‘male’ and ‘female’,
instead of the conventional bipolar M/F.
Two autonomous artists are setting up a collaboration,
a collective: there must be an enormous understanding
between the two of you.
Leonie We met each other at the art academy and shared a
fascination with skin, gender and identity. Our collaboration
was a logical thing to do because even at the academy we
created very similar works without each other’s knowledge.
We were experimenting with the same things.
Hanneke I was working on a project with physically disabled
people and needed some help. When I called Leonie and
talked about a future collaboration, we wanted to make it a bit
more edgy. Why not centre our work around a group of people
that has been left aside in mainstream society. Since we are
both very fascinated by and interested in transgender, it was
an easy decision to make.
Why this fascination with gender?
Hanneke I have had this fascination for as long as I can
remember. I was just as much in love with David Bowie as I
was with Annie Lennox; their gender was never an issue. I also
take a huge interest in surrealism. Magritte, Dali, etc. Gender
is quite surreal once you start thinking about it. The blending
of male and female traits transforms someone into a mythical
being. It is almost a divine fantasy world.
You have an ongoing project called ‘X and some other
chromosome’ in which you focus on gender themes.
Hanneke What is gender? What makes someone a man or
a woman? Is it nature or nurture? Apart from the internal
structure and external appearance of our bodies and some
genes and hormones: what really defines a man or a woman,
psychologically? And how much does it matter? Those are
interesting questions that we want to explore.
One of your first creations was called ‘Men to Be’.
Hanneke In the triptych ‘Men to Be’ we used masculine
metaphors of consumption to pay tribute to the artists we
admire.
Leonie One of the photographs, the one of Hanneke with a
beard of chocolate sprinkles, was an instant hit.
‘Men to Be’ very naturally leads to ‘X% Y%’. Can you tell me
about that?
Hanneke While working on ‘Men to Be’ we talked a lot about
the direction we were about to take as a collective. One day
I told Leonie that I have always been fascinated by the idea
of being a woman with a penis. It was pretty weird when
Leonie instantly said she had always wanted to be a man with
a vagina.
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‘A lot of people find
it obvious that you
are either male or
female. Anything else
is weird and leads to
exclusion. It is our
goal to do something
about it.’
Leonie It was an obvious continuation to ask ourselves how
other people would feel. So we made a portrait series of 100
people. The portraits included an infographic that displays
how much male and female they feel. The series shows the
large grey area between male and female.
Any surprising results?
Leonie Homosexuals feel very manly. Older people tend to
define themselves as 100% male or female but I think that is
due to their upbringing. Women are inclined to report a larger
male percentage. Probably because here in The Netherlands
we are quite emancipated. Men, on the other hand, are
quite reticent when it comes to showing their female side.
The project showed us that we still have a strong M/F way of
thinking.
And now the two of you are curating the GenderBlender
expo in MU Eindhoven. That is quite a big step to take.
Hanneke We love it and we spend every minute of our spare
time on this exhibition that shows work by artists with a jaunty
approach to the gender subject.
Leonie We wanted to make the gender theme as accessible
as possible.
You are also showing some new work by Wetzer&Baauw.
Leonie People can play with our interactive puzzle, for
example. We have a large frame and pieces with both male
and female features. People can create the body they want.
Hanneke It is a brainteaser because at what point does a body
show its actual gender features? Up to what point does it stay
undefined?
What is your goal? Who is your perfect viewer?
Leonie People don’t have to have a special interest or
background in gender issues. It is accessible for all.
Hanneke We want to trigger their thoughts on gender, both
their own and others. We want to raise questions regarding
tolerance and the axiomatic M/F way of thinking.
Hanneke A lot of people find it obvious that you are either
male or female. Anything else is weird and leads to exclusion.
It is our goal to do something about it.
www.facebook.com/wetzerbaauw
www.xandsomeotherchromosome.tumblr.com
genderblender 61

we are genderblending
name louise de ville
location paris, france
website www.louisedeville.com
Can you describe the work you are showing at MU
Eindhoven in three lines?
Louis(e) de Ville is a performance artist and gender activist
who performs equally in galleries, theatres, and queer spaces
throughout Europe. She has been kinging for 13 years, and
through her workshops she has helped over 500 women to
express their masculine alter-ego. At MU Eindhoven she is
giving a workshop.
What is the genderblender angle?
The Dragking workshop is an opportunity to be transformed
into a man, a guy, a bro, a dude. You learn techniques to
transform both physically and socially in a masculine way and
to display confidence and dominance in all that you do.
Why this fascination when it comes to gender?
Much has been said and understood about performing
femininity (one is not born but becomes a woman) but little has
been done to understand the performance of masculinity. By
making it accessible, one can level the playing field socially,
by being less intimidated and to assert oneself. With a little
‘man’scara, a different posture, and some masculine clothes,
we can cross the invisible gender barrier, and hopefully begin
to close the gender gap.
Looking at both character and behaviour in regard to
gender roles, how would you identify yourself using a
man/woman ratio that adds up to 100%?
As a performer, I perform gender as 70% feminine and 30%
masculine of the time. As a person, I perform my gender as
100% feminine, though my behaviour is 50% feminine and
50% masculine: I speak up, I take up space, I assert myself,
and I offer solutions and ideas. These traits are considered
masculine by society, though I do it all in heels! I am also a
team player, who is empathetic, and I am always juggling
many projects. These traits are considered feminine by
society (which often devalues them as such). I try to embrace
the best and basest of myself, and do not limit my selfexpression.
Future dreams?
More women to experience Drag King culture. It is fun, liberating,
political and an accessible way to question gender and its role
in society. The way to true gender equality is understanding
the limitations of the binary structure, and how expressing
yourself with a combination of codes is deemed to be
masculine/feminine. Hopefully the documentary by Chriss
Lag, being filmed currently in France, will help bring this
culture/experience to more people!
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© emilie jouvet 2012

tareq
de
montfort
interview fleur pierets photos tareq de montfort
genderblender 65

Tareq Sayed Rajab de Montfort:
Kuwaiti artist of the Arab
Romantic Decadence & The
Islamic Avant-Garde.
First things first: can the Islamic world be called avantgarde?
Like all the monotheistic religions, at its birth, Islam was an
avant-garde movement, in this instance of medieval Arabia.
During its Golden Age, the Islamic world was avant-garde in
comparison to Europe and also in the arts during the brief
cultural revolution of the 19th century called Al–Nahda.
Now it is very backward, the present forms of Islam are not
avant-garde. My work and personal beliefs are, but you asked
about the Islamic ‘world’. Saudi Arabia is discreetly leading the
way in science and research, it is the avant-garde in science
today. So yes, there are examples of the Islamic world leading
the forefront of innovation and development.
The main theme in your work is beauty. Do you consider
yourself to be an artist or rather an aesthete?
There is no difference between my state of being as a human,
an artist, ascetic, aesthete or devotee of beauty. I simply seek
to be. ‘Kun’, meaning ‘to be’, is a mystic Islamic state of being.
I aspire to be a contemporary Muhsin. A Muhsin is the highest
calling in life in conventional Islam and can be explained as
‘one who is in constant pursuit and adoration of perfection
and beauty’. So if anything, I am a contemporary Muhsin.
You once said that beauty has been damaged by artists
and intellectuals and that you want to revive it. Can you
elaborate?
Beauty today has been reduced to a faded image. When the
modern avant-garde movement, Dada and others destroyed
beauty, or rather attempted to reshape it, they consequently
annexed a complex layering of many forms of beauty. Beauty
has a noble lineage, it originates with siblings truth, kindness
and goodness and divinity itself. To understand this, I think
one needs to turn to Plato’s hierarchy of forms and the ideas
of the good and the beautiful, or an easier read like Elaine
Scarry’s ‘On Beauty and Being Just’. Horribly simplified: at
the lowest level of the hierarchy are forms of material beauty.
Higher in the hierarchy we find forms of ideas. And at the
top of the ideas is that which is divine. Here lie compassion,
kindness, and empathy. Beauty is also a metaphoric emblem
for justice, a powerful utilitarian gift to humanity to benefit
the pursuit of happiness. I could go on.
My revivalist aspirations regard the Arab lands and Islam.
Islam, in purer, mystic origin is an ideology seeking an ideal
state of being. With a doctrine of the pursuit of beauty, mostly
forgotten by current Islam, you can define it as Romantic. It
is academically accepted that the Romantic poets took much
influence from the Levant. The Romantic revolution of the
18th and 19th century affected the arts but also infiltrated
politics. Parallels exist between socio-economic issues of the
West at that time and the Arab-Islamic world now. Ideals and
politics of romanticism as well as the mythos of the Cult of
Beauty movements have acute abilities to address various
predicaments in the Middle East today. With tradition and
history still accessible in the Middle East there is still time to
salvage wisdom. A wisdom with the potential to bring into
existence Kun, an improved existence which we all desire.
Romanticism is seen as irrational and unrealistic from a
Western perspective. An Islamic pursuit is to realise a
reflection of paradise on earth and a Sufi once said that
‘Rationality destroys this world and the next’. In the Arab,
Islamic world romanticism is a reality. The mystic path offers a
way to explain all the things that academics and intellectuals
have tried for centuries to unravel but couldn’t capture. The
Romantic revolution took the moon as its emblem in challenge
of the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason represented by the
sun. The moon offered the knowledge of mysticism, poetry
and metaphysics. This mystic element was Mohammed’s
experience of Islam, how it is meant to be experienced.
In terms of theoretical narrative, beauty is a platform for unity
between dualities in opposition. A meeting of the self and the
other. The philosophy of beauty I am developing owes much
to Platonic and Sufi thoughts. Sufism is derived from Plato;
Sufism and Platonism are siblings from a heritage of Islamic
scholars whose rediscovery of classic knowledge lead to the
western Renaissance. That harmony, that kind of inspiring
relationship between such opposing cultures, the irony
that we owe so much to each other and have an intimate
relationship that is centuries old: that is a splinter of the
definition of a higher form of beauty.
I believe your work is a revolution against our rational
society?
Revolution is a word you may use. My idea of revolution does
not correspond to how revolutions have played out thus far,
with those at the top falling down and those previously at the
bottom going up to create something akin to what was just
removed. I believe in revolution in accordance to the doctrine
of beauty, which starts with the self. A romantic revolution.
Furthermore, rationality has its rightful place. Balance is
needed; I don’t desire everyone to live according to what I or
anyone else claims to be ‘the way’. If my work is a revolution
then certainly not one against your rational society. I will only
ever be ‘against’ anything if boundaries are put in place. The
rational and irrational need each other, just like the East and
West have always been in a passionate affair: we just need to
realize it. Just like the self and the other need to achieve an
affinity. One must understand, or at least accept or respect
the possibility that one’s self may actually be irrational. That
the other person, who is considered to be irrational, may be
the rational one.
What is your philosophy on the concept of Gender?
It is in constant change with society, with ideals, with
culture. I believe our normative, general and conservative
understanding of gender is basicly unsophisticated and
incomplete. I don’t think there is one absolute truth or
comprehension to gender. It is fluid, an ethereal evanescence
that defies understanding and can only be lived. That can
only be.
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genderblender

Can you talk about the work that you are showing at the
GenderBlender exhibition?
The works are from the collection called ‘Wajahat al–Rajul:
The Grace of Men’, displaying the Arab or Eastern male
reposing with an elegance, grace and adornment not usually
associated with masculinity of Arab males. It confronts
Western and Arab, Muslim perspectives of imposed male/
masculine stereotypes, hetero-norm social expectations and
cultural ideals.
The inquiry and its ‘field work’ I engage in originated from
the idea that the gender identity of Prophet Mohammed is
conventionally regarded as the ‘poster boy’ or perfect ideal of
a Muslim and also of Arab, Muslim maleness. I have had an
intimate relationship with Mohammed throughout my life,
including ten years of researching him as a man: how he was
and why he was the way he was, seeking the psychological
and social discourse rather than fables to exult over and myths
to preach about.
Attributed quotes and teachings, the earliest and most
reliable Islamic accounts and the Quran, forged together
with insights from anthropological, social, economic, cultural
and political contexts, formed an intricate sequence of time,
events and persons. It introduced me to someone who, in most
reports in Western media, is only known from the accounts of
bearded men uneasy with modernity or through odious cries of
extremists, creating an identity that most people in the West
believe to be true while it is unfair and obscene to extremity.
You adhere to the Japanese idea of Wabi Sabi. How does
that reflect on your work?
Conservative societies have a reputation of expecting how one
should be: the perfect citizen, the perfect believer. Wabi Sabi
represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic
centred on the acceptance of imperfection. Melancholy and
other such pains, physical and beyond, go hand in hand with
the ecstasy and bliss that are an integral part of my work.
Many people feel diminished, unworthy and imperfect on
account of physical or emotional scars, psychological trauma,
mental issues, etc. Such things that have been considered to
be imperfect require a revision of understanding. The idea is to
elevate them from a state of imperfection, to an imperfection
that has an alternative use, to being beautiful. Basically, this
establishes fairness.
Just like my work both contexts, narrative and aesthetics, seek
mutual acceptance between Islam and the West, between
the Arabs and Islam, between the Arabs and the West and of
course Israel. Hopefully this acceptance will evolve in reality
one day, but until then at least it can exist symbolically,
politically and romantically through art.
You grew up being gay and Muslim. What was it like?
Being gay and Muslim didn’t affect me at all, my beliefs and
sexuality do not conflict. Growing up in a Muslim country was
a bit difficult but then again, also quite exciting.
I understand gay identity isn’t the same in Arab countries
as in the West. Can you tell me about this?
That is a very complex, long discussion. I like the article
available on the subject that is called ‘Re–Orientating Desire:
‘The field work I
engage in originated
from the idea that
the gender identity of
Prophet Mohammed
is conventionally
regarded as the
‘poster boy’ or perfect
ideal of a Muslim and
also of Arab, Muslim
maleness.’
The Gay International and The Arab World’. There are different
rules in the ‘gay’ world. Very strict codes on who is active and
passive, which I challenged completely. As a slim boy with
feminine sensibility the ‘rule’ was that I would be passive. I
challenged this as I am active. In the West there is the lingering
notion that the feminine is always passive; that idea is quite
militant in Arab culture.
Also, the active man is not necessarily considered gay; he
is just fucking because that is what men do. Gay became an
identity in Britain after the Oscar Wilde trials. Before that,
it was just something you did as an act. There are many
remains of this perception in the Arab world, which has a
history of pederasty. It is different in regard to the idea of
gay as an identity. Intimacy between persons of the same
sex was a central aspect of Arabic culture but it has warped
into something that is still undecided because of this identity
issue. That is aggravated by cultures where queerness is still
considered wrong.
Future plans?
I am currently in the process of writing proposals and bringing
together ideas for an exhibition in London that would
use objects from my family’s Islamic Collection in Kuwait,
hopefully with some private ones in London. I want to show
them along with contemporary art, side by side with object
d’art artefacts and antiquities. It will be called Black Cube. The
word ‘cube’ comes from Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam where
Muslims face when they pray, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
www.tareqdemontfort.com
genderblender 69

70 genderblender

willem
popelier
text fleur pierets photos willem popelier

72 genderblender

Willem Popelier defines himself as a visual artist who uses
photography. His focus is on the politics of representation. He
researches – often with a conceptual approach – the generally
accepted ways in which portraits are used and how identity
is represented and perceived through photography. In the
‘En Vogue’ series he takes an analytical photographic view on
the covers of a major fashion magazine in the first year of its
Dutch edition.
www.willempopelier.nl

column
Although I am 46, quite vain and definitely aging, I am not
considering plastic surgery for the time being. I dislike it: it
is hardly ever spectacular. Most of the time you see a rather
half-hearted repair of what was once beautiful. To me, that is
not enough. When I would invest so much money, pain and
effort in something, I expect earth-shattering results. None
of that ‘you look great and no one would ever tell you had
surgery’! I want it to be grand and amazing, like everything
in life.
I found the WeTransfuse website through a friend and
browsed it in sheer astonishment. This is plastic surgery that
actually makes a difference! New Breasts! Complete sex
organs! Alternative ears and hands! Does this really exist?
The testimonials on the site are touching and they really move
me. Like the transvestite from Amsterdam who tells about his
desire to have real breasts. His wish could be fulfilled thanks
to a donation from a hermaphrodite who wanted to part with
his bosom. What a brave man to share his story on a public
website! A young woman explains why she decided to donate
her boobs. Convincing and realistic.
I suppose this company makes use of Asian and Brasilian
experience. Plastic surgery in South America for example
is decennia ahead of Western Europe and America. It is
wonderful that I now have access to these skills without
having to travel to another part of the world. The medical
explanation is slightly sickening. The details of post-operative
care, blood and wound fluids make me turn green. How
can this ever turn out right? But the results are impressive,
although I do suspect the clinic’s website designers made the
results look just a tiny bit too smooth.
WeTransfuse also offers the possibility to transplant a whole
penis. I guess for female-male transsexuals that would be
much more appealing than the reconstruction of a new
member from their labia. I can’t stop looking at the samples
shown on the website. Really beautiful cocks that I can’t
imagine anyone wanting to part with voluntarily. Just for
a moment, I am tempted: to possess a real penis is a long
cherished-dream of mine! With friends and lovers I have often
discussed what it feels like to have a prick, to masturbate and
to be able to penetrate someone. I wouldn’t leave the house
for months with that new toy between my legs.
For the long term, I wonder what it means to be able to
change body parts with someone of the opposite sex. Many
people I know feel trapped inside the narrow manoeuvring
space their gender allows them. There are numerous written
and unwritten rules but our body also knows the limitations
of the bones, muscles and skin. My body, ‘this mortal coil’: it
will just have to make do. I know the battle against my own
mortality and the difficult process of manifesting myself
within the limits this small female body imposes on me. What
if I could experiment with it? Would I eventually chose to be
a tall, strong man? Or a woman with a man’s strong arms?
A more masculine body would give me more freedom, for
example in the streets at night. No one would harass me
anymore, because I would let them have it with my big hands
and strong man’s arms. I would open pickle jars effortlessly
and perhaps I would be a hero: I already imagine myself
lifting children and women from toppled cars and comforting
them afterwards. A masculine face would absolutely amount
to financial advantage. Acceptation at last in my business
network (95% male) and I would no longer hesitate to take
on that job in Bahrein with my business partner. I would no
longer need a veil. But how much I would miss my makeup!
Or the feeling of a rough beard against my smooth cheeks.
M.Driessen
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eanotherlab
‘What would the world look like if we could see it through the
eyes of another’
Gender Swap is an interdisciplinary art and science investigation
on Gender that uses the system of ‘The Machine to
Be Another’ to offer two users an immersive experience of
changing body and gender.
Using the neuroscience technique of embodiment, the
system evokes the perception in both users of finding
themselves in the body of the other. In order to create this
psychophysical illusion, we employ the immersive Head
Mounted Display Oculus Rift, first-person cameras, and
multi-sensory stimuli, besides instructing the users to
synchronize their movements.
Users can see themselves in the body of someone else - a
person of a different gender - provoking reflection on their
own gender and body identity, besides creating awareness
of the other. In other words: we are addressing the relation
between identity and empathy, based on the concept that
we are not just individuals but part of a big system called
society.
Besides an interactive installation, our methodology includes the
use of ‘focus groups’ in order to empower the participants to
reflect, to generate and explore new ideas, different modes
of interaction and expression. Our role in coordinating the
discussions is to ensure that scientific and technological
protocols are met and to encourage dialogue and
experimentation. The final outcome is not predetermined
but depends on the participation and initiative of those
involved. This same methodology has been applied during
other residencies that involved working with women’s
groups, wheelchair users, dancers, immigrants and other
members of the public. In each instance we were able
to investigate new ideas and work methods, generating
a variety of outcomes from embodied storytelling to
integrated dance performance.
We envision presenting the results of this investigation to
the public during the GenderBlender exhibition through
subsequent open workshops, installations, performances
and/or documentation. We’re interested in collaboration
with trans collectives, gender investigators and artists in
order to check the impact of society’s system on gender
identity and gender diversity.
The results will contribute to academic papers intended
for publication in scientific journals and for conferences in
various fields such as telepresence, embodied interaction,
anthropology and psychology.
www.themachinetobeanother.org
genderblender 75

jj levine
interview fleur pierets photos jj levine

JJ Levine is a Montreal-based artist working in intimate
portraiture. Levine’s photography explores issues
surrounding gender, sexuality, self-identity, and queer
space. In the series ‘Alone Time’ Levine aims to make
visually confusing images that question the legitimacy
of gender binary by using one model to portray two
characters in each photo. The model embodies both
a male and female character. A conversation about
artistic practice, queerness and identities.
Your life revolves around art and being an artist. Has it
always been like that?
Art and creativity in general have always been essential parts
of my existence. I have been making all kinds of stuff with my
hands since I was a kid. However, it wasn’t until a few years
ago that I really began dedicating a substantial amount of my
time and energy to making my art practice into a career.
Where did you grow up and how was your childhood?
I grew up in Canada. In many ways I had a comfortable and
privileged upbringing, including a really loving and supportive
family. I had parents who deeply wanted to be parents and
older siblings who paved my way on so many levels (including
coming out as queer before I ever did). But when I was quite
young, my mother got sick, and she passed away when I was
only 11. This shaped my childhood and my life tremendously.
Although it is to this day quite painful, I believe living through
this hardship at such a young age gave me a lot of tools for
coping, and made me into a pretty strong and resilient person.
Another positive outcome of that loss is that I developed much
closer relationships with my siblings than I may have done
otherwise; we have really relied on and been there for each
other over the years. I am so grateful to have such incredible
and inspiring siblings and such a supportive dad.
How do you identify, gender-wise?
I identify as trans. My queerness and my gender are inextricably
linked.
How is living in Montreal?
I can’t imagine living anywhere else. It is an amazingly creative
city, with a very low cost of living that has allowed me to focus
so much on my art. If I was living in any other urban centre
of its size, I am sure I would have to work at my day job two
or three times as much as I do here. Also I love all my friends
so much, and many of them are committed to staying here
as well. Montreal is where my community is, and therefore
where my life is.
How does its queer scene differ from other countries?
I can’t speak to other countries, but for Montreal, a lot of
people find it not as butch/femme as other queer scenes,
but more genderqueer on genderqueer, which can be
experienced as hegemonic or exclusionary for some identities
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and individuals. It is often said that in Montreal there is a lot
more gender fluidity and a lot less pressure to conform to
the binary than in other places. There are many strong trans
communities in Montreal. It is also an interesting city in that
there are really distinct French-speaking and English-speaking
scenes, which is not to say that there aren’t mixed spaces, but
it does create an interesting environment, especially when it
comes to radical queer organizing.
What is your definition of queer?
For me, queer is not just about a sexuality that exists beyond
the gender binary. It is about fostering community and an
ethic that rejects mainstream assimilation and the capitalist
isolationist model that so many normative gays strive for and
embrace. It is about remembering the radical roots of the
gay liberation movement, and acknowledging that change
doesn’t usually come without a fight and that fighting doesn’t
always look the same for everyone. It is about shifting the
focus of the movement away from middle-class comforts
and towards combating systemic oppression such as racism,
transphobia, serophobia and poverty. It’s not who you fuck or
how you fuck, it’s a mentality.
Regarding your series ‘Queer Portraits’; why the name? Do
all the models identify as queer?
Pretty much! I called the series ‘Queer Portraits’ because each
portrait portrays a member of my queer community. The
confrontational gaze of my subjects and unapologetic pose
invite the viewer to appreciate the aesthetics of our lives and
culture while recognizing that the subjects themselves are not
easily consumed.
How is your relationship with your models? How do you
connect?
I only photograph people that I know. So my relationship with
each of them is totally different, and the connection is based
on our individual relationship history.
How important is their wardrobe? Do you need clothes in
order to tell a story about a person?
My models are normally dressed in their own clothes; together
we decide on which wardrobe items they will wear during the
shoot. These decisions are made based upon the subjects’
ideas of self-expression, and how they want to be represented
in their portrait. Throughout this process, I am also taking into
genderblender 79

account the surrounding furniture, wall colour, and general
palate within the frame.
In an interview I read, ‘desire is what connects queer people
to one another’. Can you elaborate?
I think that queerness, radical or otherwise, revolves around
sexuality and therefore sexual desire - not necessarily
sex, but an openness to possibilities beyond the confines
of heterosexual, gender-essentialist, binary-upholding
relationships.
Could you make a series outside your community? If so,
what would it look like?
Making a series outside of my community doesn’t interest me
at all. I am interested in the trust and connection that happens
between me and my subjects, how that translates onto the
final portrait, and by extension, how it comes through to the
viewer.
Tell me about your love for working analogue.
I always shoot on film, and for all projects other than ‘Alone
Time’, I print my work in the darkroom. The analogue process
is really magical for me - I guess part of it is the anticipation
- from the days it takes between the shoot and getting
my film processed, from working on an enlarger in the
darkroom to waiting for my first test strip to come out of
the processor, to the final C-print! I think digital processing
is great for a lot of people’s work, but for mine, the colours,
the texture of the paper, and the reference to the history of
the photographic portraiture tradition are paramount.
Has it something to do with craft, the feeling during the
process, or do you actually go for the difference in the
end result?
Definitely both equally. When I walk into a gallery or
museum, I can normally tell immediately if an image has
been shot on film or digitally, and whether it is a C-print or
an ink-jet print. Of course there is so much craft involved in
printing in the colour darkroom, and I do take pride in that;
but since I tend to print my work quite large, the end result,
in my opinion, is really superior in terms of image quality
as a direct result of the analogue process. I am sure many
people will disagree, so when it comes down to it, it is really
a matter of taste.
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In your pictures you re-create moments you have
experienced. You don’t capture them on film while you are
IN the actual moment. Why?
Although this re-creation applies to some of my photos in
‘Queer Portraits’, the majority of them come about in other
ways. And on very rare occasions, I do actually shoot at the
moment that I see something beautiful or meaningful to me.
The reason that I more often recreate an image after the
fact is because my work requires quite a bit of set-up, since
I ostensibly create a studio each time I shoot. So saying ‘hold
that thought while I set up my lighting and camera for the
next hour’ isn’t always appropriate! I will often take some
snapshots on a digital camera or on my phone and then use
them as a reference when I go back to recreate the scene on
film.
Why do you think people find your work provocative?
I think people find my work provocative because it challenges
the viewer to rethink certain concepts that they may hold
true. For example, in a way, my images encourage people to
think about gender the way trans people sometimes do, even
if only for a minute.
How does your work evolve? Person vs. work?
I pay much closer attention to detail now than I did when
I started shooting in 2006. My work on gender fluidity/
multiplicity definitely preceded my physical transition and
maybe paved the way for me on that front. In some way,
perhaps I worked out some of my identity through my art
before taking action towards being read differently in the
world. I don’t know if the work has actually changed that
much over the years, other than the fact that on a technical
level it is stronger. The concept hasn’t shifted significantly
since the project’s inception, but now I have a clearer way of
understanding and articulating it.
Regarding evolution: when you work on an ongoing series,
isn’t it weird to watch or expose pictures from several years
ago?
No, my ‘Queer Portraits’ feel really consistent, so I think that
work from years ago goes really well with recent work. Of
course, there is an element of nostalgia that occurs for me
when I look at one of my portraits of a close friend from years
ago, or a portrait taken in an apartment that I spent a lot of
time in that is no longer inhabited by my friends, for example.
genderblender 81

Your work is very personal. Where do you, as a person, end
and where does the story-telling begin?
It is all mixed together. Obviously there are many facets of
my life that don’t come up in my work; but since my work
is identity-based, most of it addresses issues that are really
important to my existence as a queer and trans person in the
world.
Is the series ‘Alone Time’ a masquerade or does it have
political connotations?
Both. In my ‘Gender Fictions’, of which ‘Alone Time’ is one
series, I employ techniques of masquerade to put forth my
political agenda.
Didn’t your models experience it as a masquerade?
It is a pretty different experience for each model; some find
it really comfortable and fun, and others find it challenging
or reminiscent of discomfort they have felt with their
assigned gender. I certainly never want my models to feel
uncomfortable, and we talk about this stuff if it comes up
throughout the process.
In the series you celebrate the human capacity for gender
fluidity. Can anyone be a model in this series?
In theory yes, but I don’t have any interest in working with
strangers. The way I select models is really personal and
intuitive, and rarely do I photograph people upon their
request.
There is a gender bending trend going on in fashion these
days. What do you think about that?
As far as I’m concerned, the more imagery depicting
alternative gender presentations that exists, the better!
It is a slow process that has involved a lot of hard work and
perseverance, but the increased attention lately really has
been a snowball effect. Every exhibit - and each article that
has been written about my work - has led to the next. It is
an exciting time for me right now, as I am in the process of
making two monographs with an artist book grant, as well,
I am working on expanding my series ‘Alone Time’, and
finishing up a video that has been brewing for a while.
www.jjlevine.ca
82
genderblender

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