in Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin Madison. On Monday I went with my friends, Kim and Jack, to Madison for a day trip. They showed me through the Memorial Union. This was not the most memorable part of the Union, but in light of the fact that my get pushed challenge from Andrew is "Fashion" I thought I ought to post this, just in case I ended up not taking any other even remotely appropriate photos before Sunday evening. I hope this is not all I have, but...
NOTE: Thanks to Suzanne and Andrew for their closer look at the artist, Teddy Dean Lepley III and their artwork. See their comments and my response below.
I had to look up Teddy Dean Lepley III. I thought that he/she might be someone I just hadn't heard of because we are in Oz. Here's what I found for others who are curious: https://uwm.edu/arts/directory/lepley-teddy-dean/
@mcsiegle@ankers70 First of all I want to thank Suzanne for the link which led me to click on Teddy's home page https://teddylepley.com.
Mary, initially I wondered how your photo met my challenge but once I had followed Suzanne's link and done some research I realised that it is an excellent response indeed. I hadn't ever thought of Queer fashion being a thing but obviously it not only is but also a very important identity marker and a way of self-expression and self-acceptance and at the same time relating to a society which is not always tolerant to say the least. The slogan "In here, out there" encapsulates this dichotomy well.
So thank you Mary for making me think about my own narrow-mindedness and introducing me to a world different to the one I inhabit but one which has a beauty and importance relevant to the society that we would do well to contemplate.
@ankers70@allsop@grammyn@randystreat Oh, my goodnesss! Thank you so much Suzanne and Andrew for the links and the insights. Andrew, I don't think I can take credit for that. I was with my friends, Kim and Jack, and Jack was intent on finding the Great Room in the Union to show us, so I took a rather brief look at the exhibit -- was mostly attracted by the bright red image of the dress and hanger and, since fashion often implies clothes, thought it might superficially satisfy the challenge. After looking at Teddy's website and their artwork, I see how it would inspire a deeper consideration of fashion as it relates to queer, trans, and gender neutral identity. Indeed, as fashion pertains to the self image and identity of any person. In light of all that, I am posting another couple of images and a bit more thought on self-identity and self-acceptance. They are posted and I'll change them to public as soon as I've written that.
@allsop Andrew, at this precise moment I am so frustrated with the computer. I just spent quite a bit of time writing what I wanted to on the Selfie I took and pressed SAVE but instead of saving what I wrote disappeared and now I have to rewrite -- I should learn to save anything that takes much time to write in a document first. Aaaargh! It's after 1:00 in the morning here.
Mary, initially I wondered how your photo met my challenge but once I had followed Suzanne's link and done some research I realised that it is an excellent response indeed. I hadn't ever thought of Queer fashion being a thing but obviously it not only is but also a very important identity marker and a way of self-expression and self-acceptance and at the same time relating to a society which is not always tolerant to say the least. The slogan "In here, out there" encapsulates this dichotomy well.
So thank you Mary for making me think about my own narrow-mindedness and introducing me to a world different to the one I inhabit but one which has a beauty and importance relevant to the society that we would do well to contemplate.