Ever since I (I was 8) saw a little person get on a bus in
Buenos Aires around 1950, who had very short hair but wore a skirt I
have been interested (confused then!) with androgyny.
My Rosemary and I decided to call our youngest daughter
Hilary because we thought that it was up to a person with an epicene name, to inflect
upon their name their personal feeling on their sexuality. Our older daughter,
named Alexandra (after my middle name as my first is Jorge) goes by the name of
Alex and that is an epicene name, too.
In the height of the early 80s sexual revolution in
Vancouver I always guessed that any woman using the word androgynous or showing
an interest in looking so was usually of that sexual preference that did not
include the male sex. I have felt most of my life to be a liberal in these
matters so not only am I not repelled by androgyny but I am attracted to the
idea of expressing my feelings on it through photography.
I met Olena through my hairdresser and I was instantly
interested in exploring androgyny with her. It helped that she has a demure (most lovely in my eyes) chest.
In our first session in my little (demure?) Kitsilano
studio I had Olena wear my Mexican Puerto de Liverpool pin striped suit. I also
had her slip into a classic fishnet panty hose stocking. Unfortunately since it is
not my aim to offend anybody who might accidentally run into my blog the last
two images of the five-photograph narrative have been cropped.