Where I come from
My life is not a "style". Being a lesbian and/or an artist is not listed or labeled in any advertising column I've seen for "lifestyles". Various "styles" I've recently come acquainted with include: Finance, Food, Travel, Technology, Cars, Pets, and Health.
I was raised in a heterosexual step-family and I do not consider this upbringing as contributing to me being Queer but there were many issues that did deter me from admitting to being Queer. I have a somewhat skewed definition of what loving relationships between strangers and for that matter marriage is and can be. I've learned from other people's experiences that are both traditional and nontraditional in form. My art-making deals with issues based on and around these relationships including Queer identity and the female body image. In order to understand my work a little better I will recount (aspects of) my personal story.
Early on in my life I became isolated, sharing my time between two different homes with only one home really feeling stable. Moving from a small town to a the big city, because of my Mother's third marriage, was the best thing that could have happened in my early childhood. My eyeys were open and I was ready to learn. I kept to myself most of the time and watched in wonder of everyone else around me. Looking back I'm not really sure what type of identity I could categorize myself as being a part of, it never really seemed to be brought up or maybe I wasn't aware of any lables that would identify who I was. I know that "tomboy" and comments from my Mother such as; "I think your Father wishes you had been born a boy" was used often but I think I wore it as a badge of honor rather than an image I needed to change.
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