To Be A Lesbian Artist Or Not
Self portrait, Birthe Havmoeller, Denmark, 2009
I often hear that artists don’t like being labelled as belonging to one genre of the arts i.e. being a surrealist, an abstract painter or a lesbian artist, as the label suggests that the artist makes one kind of art only, and a truly creative artist never knows where the inspiration may lead her in her next art project. Exploring the creative drive and inner feeling of inspiration is so exciting a personal journey that you don’t want to a title or label to give you a set identity. Nor does an artist want people to talk about her as belonging to a certain genre/group of artists (that is unless it gives you a ticket to major art show in China…) Most artists find their professional identity and self applied label as a ‘holder of a tradition’ i.e. being a sculptor, a printmaker, etc. or as being a part of the zeitgeist as conceptual or multimedia artists.
I don’t know, who coined all these different labels as I am a self-trained photographer and not an art historian, but I know that they are used by everyone, who speaks professionally about art, i.e. curators, marketers, writers and art historians… including myself when I invite women to contribute to Feminine Moments and join a platform that applies labels such as lesbian or queer artist to them. If having a professional label that in some way or other defines your art as belonging to a genre (as mentioned above) is a bad thing then the title of queer/lesbian artist is even worse, as it makes people focus on the sexuality instead of artistic qualities and professionalism of the artist. I am deeply honoured by the pride and courage of the women, who accept my invitations to join this resource site. Thank you to all of you! I love you!
Self portrait, Birthe Havmoeller, Denmark, 2009
Now you may wonder, why I blog about contemporary lesbian art? Is it to satisfy a curiosity and learn the secrets about the erotic artworks by queer / lesbian artists? – No that is not what urges me to continue researching and editing Feminine Moments. My aim is to show queer women (and other readers) the high quality of the works of art which lesbian/queer artists make and invite you to indulge it as a rich benefit of enjoying a lesbian lifestyle. I also hope to give lesbian arts professionals an art blog, which brings high quality news content about art projects by lesbians around the world.
From personal experiences as an artist and a lesbian I know that there is more to being a lesbian artist than just making ‘lesbian art’, ‘lesbian erotica’ or works of art that deals with gender, gender roles and a lesbian lifestyle in general… and I often wonder, if the international lesbian community needs a new definition of what a ‘lesbian art’ is. Living far away from vibrant lesbian communities and doing landscape photography only definitely has one downside to it – I’ll probably never qualify to the title of ‘lesbian artist’ unless I re-define ‘lesbian art’. I haven’t written a new definition yet, but I invite you to let go of all your previous ideas about this subject and read about the artists on this blog and learn what these wonderful out and proud women want to share with you.
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