MARIETTE PATHY ALLEN – TRANSFORMATIONS
2021-03-15Mariette Pathy Allen has been photographing the transgender community for over forty years. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing across the globe. Her first book, published in 1990, was titled Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them. The publication was groundbreaking in its investigation of a misunderstood community.
The series “Transformations” started with black-and-white images in New Orleans on the last day of Mardi Gras 1978: “[W]hen by fluke, I stayed at the same hotel as a group of crossdressers, one of whom became a friend,” writes Allen. “This chance meeting took me into a mostly closeted world of men who need to express their ‘feminine sides. . .’ Realizing early on that I had stumbled upon something potentially liberating and almost completely misunderstood, I set out to ‘de-freakify,’ and to offer a different view.”
Opposite – Beth and Her Husband, Rita, Boston, MA, 1983
Exhibition runs through to April 10th, 2021
ClampArt
247 West 29th Street
Ground Floor
New York
NY 10001
