From an article by Katherine Brooks for the Huffington Post:
The World Famous *BOB* is no stranger to the spotlight. Since the 1990s, the Neo-Burlesque icon has been part of a new performance movement, bringing together components of striptease, dance, comedy and theatrical mayhem in one bombastic one-woman show. She describes herself as a “female-female impersonator” — an ambiguous identity fit for an ambiguous performer whose fame has soared atop her ability to blur the lines of gender and sexuality.
A new photography book is paying homage to the burlesque enigma in “Shoot the Arrow: A Portrait of the World Famous *BOB*.” Featuring a selection of black-and-white photographs by Amy Touchette, the work gives a rare glimpse into *BOB*’s life on and off-stage, with or without pasties. From a girl growing up on a 115-acre farm in California to a drag queen named after The Cure’s Robert Smith and known to concoct martinis in her décolletage, the photos give a bit of insight into an underground figurehead who turned to performance as a method of detangling her own identity.
“I was extremely ambiguous when it came to my gender, because I had just come from San Francisco, where I strongly identified as a New Wave fag during the day, and a Drag Queen at night,” *BOB* explained in an interview with “BlackBook Magazine,” recounting her early days in New York. “When I moved to NYC, it was an attempt to live out my biggest dream — to be a fancy freak in New York. I still wasn’t sure of my gender, but was very inspired by the trans community.”
View Amy Touchette’s series, “Shoot the Arrow: A Portrait of The World Famous *BOB*”
View all of Amy Touchette’s work at ClampArt