From Miss Rosen’s interview with artist Mariette Pathy Allen for Huck:
In 1989, Allen published her first book Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them, long before the mainstream culture was able to accept gender variance. “This was brand new,” Allen says. “I was a pioneer in that respect because I really helped bring people out. I was trying to take away the fear factor not just for them but also for the outside world. They have been photographed by other artists but treated like ‘the other.’ I felt like in my own way I have been an anthropologist as well as an artist.”
Allen’s empathetic and compassionate eye is devoid of sensationalizing, stigmatizing, or vilifying intent; instead, she shows us the profound humanity of those living outside the gender binary.
Allen reveals, “In spite of all the agony the people I knew, there was so much humour and such a sense of relief when they would go to a convention like Fantasia Fair and meet other people like themselves. It was like a feast of recognition, joy, intimacy, and fun.
Browse the exhibition “Transformations” at ClampArt
Browse the series “Transformations” at ClampArt
Browse all of Mariette Pathy Allen’s work at ClampArt