lvndrmrrr:

BEAUTIFUL.Voguing: The Message traces the roots of this gay, Black and Latino dance form, which appropriates and plays with poses and images from mainstream fashion. Voguing competitions parody fashion shows and rate the contestants on the basis of movement, appearance and costume. This tape is a pre-Madonna primer that raises questions about race, sex and subcultural style.

Dir. Jack Walworth, David Bronstein & Dorothy Low 1989 13 min. USA

(via genderqueer)

queercontemporaryart:

Catherine Opie 

Norma & Eyenga

Minneapolis Minnesota (from the Domestic Series) 

1998

queercontemporaryart:

Catherine Opie 

Melissa & Lake,

Durham North Carolina (from the Domestic series),

1998. Chromogenic print

In 1998, Opie traveled cross-country in her motor home for two months in order to photograph lesbian couples. This series, called Domestic—of which Melissa & Lake, Durham, North Carolina is an example—presents these couples involved in everyday, household activities: relaxing in their backyard, hanging out in their kitchen, playing with their children. There is no sensationalism here. Much like the formal studio portraits before them, these intimate photographs speak both to Opie’s identification with her subjects and to the overwhelming absence of such images in mainstream representations.

azaadiart:

Pleasure, desire, bondage; intimacy, affection, sheer revelry; fear, uncertainty, discomfort the myriad expressions of the erotic are revealed in Close, Too Close: The Tranquebar Book of Queer Erotica, the first South Asian anthology of its sort. In this path-breaking entry into both the queer literature and erotica genres, fifteen writers and artists from across the subcontinent (and beyond) freely explore the illimitable possibilities of genders and sexualities constantly present all around us. In the pages of this book, on a crowded bus ride, over a cosy bowl of rajma-chawal, amidst the bustle of a swanky pool s changing room, in the familiar embraces of city flats, bungalows and teacher-training hostels, friends (or chance-met strangers) turn lovers; ideas of man and woman take different meaning(s); the world reveals its queerness. 

Intimate, thrilling, moving, sometimes even puzzling, but always intriguing, the stories in this anthology bring both the erotic and the queer closer than ever before.

http://www.amazon.com/Close-Too-Tranquebar-Queer-Erotica/dp/9381626154/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355783500&sr=8-1&keywords=erotic++queer+too+close

latinosexuality:

Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100
Born July 23, 1899, in Springfield, Illinois, Ruth Ellis was the oldest “out” African American lesbian known. The film offers a rare opportunity to experience a century of our American history as lived by one inspiring woman. By example, Ruth Ellis shows us what is possible and what can be realized, if one not only lives long and ages well but also lives with pride. Ruth Ellis died at home peacefully in her sleep on October 5, 2000. She was 101. To purchase the documentary, please click this link http://bit.ly/WGwizr .

(via femmedreamboat)

Girl Play, a new web serieswhich follows a group of… waaait for it… feminine women of color (finally!). Breaking the trend of web series leading with masculine of center women’s experiences, viewers can expect to live vicariously through four fab femmes as they navigate their careers, friendship, and love.

Girl Play TV is the brain child of TheFabFemme.com creator, Aryka Randall, who was inspired to create the series after the success of her blog. In a recent interview, she remarked:

“My main goal for the “Girl Play” project is to end common stereotypes about feminine lesbian women and depict young women of color in a positive light. I also want to expose viewers to the LGBT community which thrives in Louisiana. I think people will be surprised to see how many gay people actually live in New Orleans.”

read more about Girl Play

(Source: alostbird, via femmedreamboat)

eti1:

Part of “Over & Over” by Alyson Provax

(via whatfollows)

whatfollows:

Alyson Provax, Time Wasting Experiment

themotleyhoard:

Just added this hard to find gem, The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye in my cart and soon it’ll be on its way to my doorstep! Early black independent/experimental cinema; time to break out my textbooks and dust off my notebook for some fun non-hegemonic filmic discourse! The only thing is, I’m not sure if the DVD includes The Watermelon Woman… anyone out there that can verify this???? For those interested in reading more about my passion/respect towards black independent cinema, you can read an article I published while I was in school, SPIKE LEE ≠ BLACK INDEPENDENT CINEMA.

If you’re still looking for Watermelon Woman, Sistah Sinema have made it  available via their online channel. Plus Dunye’s early films and several newer QPOC works. [Small rental fees for live streaming viewing, think they can be watched from any country]

(via poc-creators)

shwetanarayan:

airspaniel:

gailsimone:

newlevant:

Hi! I’m stoked to present my thesis comic, If This Be Sin, based on the life of Gladys Bentley. It’s for sale on Gumroad! You can download the 16 page full-color PDF for $2.

Gladys Bentley, was a blues singer, piano player, and drag king who performed bawdy tunes in Harlem nightclubs throughout the 1920s and ’30s. Despite the social obstacles she faced as a black, openly queer woman, her outrageous and energetic act became a mainstay of the Harlem cabaret. In 1952, under the oppressive social conditions of the McCarthy era, Bentley publicly renounced her previous identity and claimed to have found happiness as a feminine housewife.

Gumroad is super simple to use, you just have to enter your credit card number and you’ll be sent a direct download, plus Gumroad will email you a link to re-download it if you ever lose track of the file.

FOR EVERY 100 NOTES, I’LL GIVE AWAY A DIGITAL COMIC TO A RANDOM TUMBLR USER so please share if you can! (Within each 100 notes, only people who reblog are eligible for a free copy.)

Thank you and I hope you enjoy the comic!

This looks amazing!

AHHHHH!  Oh my god, this looks AWESOME!

reblogging for awesome and also as a note to self to get this when spoon exists

(via poc-creators)

escapekit:

Bodyscapes

“Israeli artist Ronit Bigal meticulously presents excerpts from sacred Biblical texts on the human body in her Body Scripture IIseries. Like Allan Teger’s Bodyscapes, Bigal gets in close to the contours of the human form, re-imagining the body as an abstract landscape. On the grooved, fleshy expanse, the artist systematically applies black Indian ink calligraphy in Hebrew that reveals passages of scripture.”

(via desliz)

Sitara, Rada’a Boushra Almutawakel Yemen As part of the Hijab series, I chose to look at the traditionally Yemeni veils, in this case the sitaras, and found how unique, colorful, and distinctive the different veils from different areas in Yemen are, compared to the all black veil imported from the Gulf. All black is not Yemeni, actually at a closer glance some of the traditionally Yemeni veils are like works of art. See and learn more about Boushra Almutawakel’s work here

(via Sitara, Rada’a | IMOW Muslima)

feministartdegree:

“YOU PATHOLOGIZE MY EMOTIONS TO INVALIDATE MY REALITY.” / 2012

feministartdegree:

two studio shots / 2012

missingdinosaur:

Who’s this woman with the keyboards? Well, it’s Wendy Carlos. Who’s that? Hell, I’m upset you don’t already know. Wendy Carlos is a transgender woman who helped shape both electronic and classical music as we know it.

As a six year old, she started piano lessons, at 10, she composed a trio, and at 14, she built a computer. This was in 1953, long before computers were a household item. She assisted Dr. Robert Moog to help him create the Moog synthesizer. In fact, it was Carlos who suggested touch sensitivity, adding greater dynamic range and overall musicality to the instrument.

She rose to prominence in 1968 with her album Switched-On Bach, a collection of Bach pieces recreated on the Moog synthesizer. In 1969, she won three Grammy awards for her debut work. She caught the eye of Stanley Kubrick and was hired to score A Clockwork Orange (you know, one of those movies tumblr is obsessed with). She went on to write the soundtrack for Kubrick’s other film, The Shining, as well as Disney’s Tron.

Carlos also created the first synthesized environmental album in 1972, influencing the ambient genre, and explored alternate tunings with her 1986 album, Beauty in the Beast, inventing new scales to go along with her pieces.

(via fcyeah)