“Since all we were legally afforded was death, I was going to make the most elegant statement on our government not allowing us to marry as I could muster.”

What an amazing statement and an amazing response to discrimination.

We, the editors, are three trans artists who believe art and literature are two of the most vital parts to our world today. At this moment, there is no magazine which brings all transgender, transsexual and gender variant writers and artists to the forefront. We believe it is time to publish such a magazine!

The purpose of Bodies of Work is to publish and promote literature and art that celebrates the diverse visions and understandings of the transsexual, transgender and gender-variant international community through language and image. We want to inspire and be inspired by the innovative output of our communities and come together with trans artists of all genres in creative discourse. We want to engage and support our creative processes and learn how trans artists and writers create.

Bodies of Work will:

* Introduce a wide audience to literature and art by the trans and gender-variant community.
* Provide a unique opportunity for underrepresented writers and artists viewpoints.
* Discover and publish emerging and developing writers and artists.

Bodies of Work will be published both in print and on the web. Print costs are high, so our agenda is to build a website first and print 3 magazines a year when we have the funds.

We are currently seeking submissions for our inaugural issue! All trans and gender-variant artists, performers and writers are encouraged to submit work.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Prose and Poetry: Submit up to 8 pages of work(double-spaced, 12 pt.). It is best to send all of your work in one Microsoft Word (.doc) or text (.rtf) attachment.

Interview: We welcome interview submissions with a trans/gender variant artist/writer/performer. Up to 8 pages (double-spaced, 12 pt.)

Graphic files: Submit up to 5 visual art images or photographs. Photography and visual art should be sent using .tif files ( at least 300 dpi /300 pixels per inch resolution) or .jpeg files. Please include a short artist’s statement about the work submitted.

Songs and Sound Art: Submit up to five MP3 files. Please include a short artist’s statement about the work submitted. All sound art and music will be featured mostly on our website.

Video Art/Movies: Please send a URL to the work if it is online. If not, please send a DVD copy. Please include an artists statement about the work.

ALL submissions: Please include:A short bio (two sentences) with your name (as you want it to appear in print), email, phone, and mailing address.

Deadline for submissions to be considered for the inaugural issue will be April 10, 2011

Please send all submissions to: bodiesofworkmagazine@gmail.com

Thank you! We look forward to seeing your work!

Cooper Lee Bombardier, Morty Diamond and Annie Danger

Editor Bios:

Cooper Lee Bombardier is a trans visual artist, illustrator, writer and performer. His work has shown nationally and he has performed and lectured widely across the United States. He sees touring as a thinly veiled excuse to karaoke with fine queers across America. His writing appears in several anthologies and recordings. Cooper is currently pursing a Master’s in Writing and Publishing while writing and illustrating his first novel and developing two non-fiction books. He now lives in Portland, Oregon and has never before had such curly hair.

Annie Danger is a trans artist and activist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works in live media with the hope to wheedle, entertain, woo, and cajole you into a smarter, stronger, more intimate dance with your hopes and your ethics. She has performed across the United States and illustrated a number of published texts as well as a wide variety of more thrilling, slapshod, and/or DIY projects. She was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. You can find more about her at www.dangertattoos.com

Morty Diamond is a transsexual artist and writer living in Los Angeles, CA. He has edited two anthologies of trans writers: From the Inside Out, FTM and Beyond (Manic D Press, 2004) and Trans Love / Trans Sex (Manic D Press, forthcoming). He has also directed two films, Trannyfags and Trans Entities, focusing on sexuality within the trans community. Visit him at www.mortydiamond.com

But that, however, is only for the people who require medical intervention. There have always been bodies that bridge male and female, that express secondary sex characteristics of both. Evidence:

How fantastic is she? At the very least, when some moralizing pundit talks about trans or intersex as some kind of new perversity, and a sign that the world is coming to an end, we can at least point out that it’s a very old perversity indeed. Most perversions are. We don’t invent much, but instead mostly forget, or otherwise bury some histories and identities and pretend they never did exist. (For the record, for those of you who aren’t careful readers: I do not think trans or intersex is a perversion.I am employing rhetoric in order to make my point clear. Civil and cultural recognition of trans and intersex identities and bodies is a sign of civilization, to me.)

But they did exist. This piece is not on display, but owned by the Louvre, yet this other one is on display, and in my opinion, far more sensual. Museum stats below the break.

Cote cliché : 10-504886
N° d’inventaire : MA4866
Fonds : Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines
Titre : Statue dun hermaphrodite
Description : 2e siècle ap J.-C. // découverte : Monte Porzio ( Colonna , Casale Ciufla)
Crédit photographique : (C) RMN / Hervé Lewandowski
Période : Empire romain (27 avant J.-C.-476 après J.-C.)
Technique/Matière : marbre, sculpture (technique)
Site de production : Italie (origine), site de production incertain
Lieu de découverte : Monte Porzio (origine)
Hauteur : 1.500 m.
Localisation : Paris, musée du Louvre

Where & When:
The Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, Rm 9204
6pm-8pm

Jonathan D. Katz and the Omission and Censorship of Queer Art

Despite 30 years of scholarship from him and other experts, Katz says that most major institutions gloss over gay and lesbian sexuality in their collections – which is why Hide/Seek is such an important show. “Punishing the one institution that broke the blacklist will enable all the other institutions to sit on their hands,” says Katz. “My goal in doing the show was not simply to do the show, but also to make it safe for other institutions to do the show. We have been falsifying art history for decades.”

Here’s an interview with Katz, where he talks about the decision by the Smithsonian to pull the exhibit, & about the artists who have pulled their art and/or funding in response.

Exhibit Link

From the Smithsonian Newsdesk

I’d go if I were in NYC, that’s for damn sure.

Thank you, Ben Harrison, as always, for tuning me in. His band Etc. has a super(hero) track out, too.

I’m sorely tempted to get to NYC before it ends in late June in order to see it. Here are a few of my favorites:

Photographer: Andrew Hawley

Really nice work. Make sure you read the captions, which toggle on/off in the bottom right corner of the frame.

(That said, someone else did something similar not long ago, & I hope CNN didn’t just rip off the idea.)