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Janet Bruesselbach: Trans Women in Art

Daughters of Mercy II is the second in a series of portraits painted by New York based artist Janet Brusselbach. The oil paintings depict transgender women demonstrating the changing nature of women’s bodies, their fluidity and the very essence of femaleness, as Janet seeks to introduce more trans bodies into the art world.

Janet paints with live models so that the subject can be comfortable and have control over their image. She is hoping to fundraise enough money so that the portraits can be on show in a New York gallery, as well as creating a calendar of the images.

Janet explains why she created the series and what she hopes to achieve on her Kickstarter site:

Daughters of Mercury is a series of full-length oil paintings celebrating the beauty and diversity of trans women. Each portrait is driven by how its subject wants to be seen and the collaboration of artist and subject. I am a cis woman who wants to support and advocate for amazing women I love and admire, using the medium I know best.

Sybil Lamb, oil on canvas, 36x48in, June 2005

Mae (detail), 23×32,  oil on canvas, May 2015

Andromeda, oil on canvas, 36x60in, April 2015

 

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Marie Claire: Behind the Ink

Created by Marie Claire magazine, this short film ‘Behind The Ink’ features our editor Alice Snape. The film pushes the boundaries of mainstream beauty media and is a huge step forward for how women with tattoos are represented. A really well-made film by Marie Claire magazine. 

Big thanks to Marie Claire‘s Senior Beauty Editor and producer of this film Anita Bhagwandas.

Alice Snape Marie Claire Magazine
Our editor Alice Snape talks about women and tattoos to Marie Claire magazine.

 

The short film features five women including:

Things&Ink columnist, salon owner, ReeRee Rockette (@reereerockette), talking about how her tattoos make her feel in terms of body confidence and when she’s online dating by exploring the common perceptions of tattooed women.

Mary Kate Trevaskis (@marycupkate) is the Communications Director at Smashbox Cosmetics and Bumble and Bumble. She talks about her love of ink and how she’s continued to grow her collection of body art, despite working at a senior level in very corporate environment.

Alice Snape (@thingsandink) is the Founding Editor of the Things&Ink magazine. Traditional tattoo magazines tend to use women to ‘sell’ their magazines to a largely male readership, but Things&Ink which is aimed at both men and women, explores tattoo culture with style and intelligence.

Katie Parsons (@katieparsons) is a Kerrang! Radio DJ and Social Media Strategist. When Katie got married last year she chose to embrace her large chest piece rather than cover it up as many brides might. She explores the relationship between her body and her body art.

Tracy D (@tracydtattoos) is an in-demand London-based tattooist (and cover star of the art issue) who talks about her decision to enter into a male dominated profession – and she gets her tattoo needle into Anita Bhagwandas, Senior Beauty Editor.

Charley Bezer (@charleybezer) is Head of PR at Live Nation, and discusses how her tattoos have made her feel in a male-dominated industry.

  

 

What do you think of this film? A positive step forward for mainstream media?

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One Day Young: Mothers and Babies

Photographer Jenny Lewis has created a collection of photographs showing mothers and their babies, one day after the birth. These portraits have been published as a book by Hoxton Mini Press titled One Day Young.

It’s really quite simple — I wanted to tell a story about the strength and resilience of women post-childbirth that I feel goes largely unacknowledged in today’s world. To reassure women that childbirth is ok; yes it’s painful but it is a positive pain, one that has purpose and is just part of the journey, a rite of passage into motherhood. To make visible other emotions that are far more powerful: the joy, the overwhelming love and the triumphant victory every new mother feels. In my mind this is the supportive message we should be passing on to future generations rather than paralysing them with fear.

Very early on in the project I knew I wanted to concentrate on the first twenty-four hours, when a woman’s body is engulfed by hormones, to capture the unrelenting physicality of the moment, straight from the battlefield. Sweat still glistening on the mothers’ skin, the translucent umbilical cord, freshly severed, and wide-eyed wonder as the women come to terms with the magnitude of what they have achieved and survived.

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Are matching tattoos a curse?

With so many celebrity couples getting matching tattoos these days, our editorial assistant Rosie asks: ‘are matching couples tattoos a relationship curse or a way to further cement a loving bond?’

The latest celebrity couple to get matching tattoos in honour of their love for one another is Ellie Goulding and Dougie Poynter. ‘Skullin ell’ was the phrase Poynter used on his Twitter account to show the world his new ink.

But looking at other celebrity couples it seems that matching tattoos are a type of relationship curse. For instance Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, Chris Brown and Rihanna, the list could go on and on.

By getting a matching tattoo are you adding a sense of dooming permanence to your relationship or is it merely a way to document an important part of your life. Is there a pressure that your relationship has to go the distance because of the ink in your skin?

I hope not as my boyfriend of six years and I have two tattoos that we have gotten together. Although the pieces are similar in design they are not entirely matching, and unless we tell people no one really guesses that the images are part of a pair. Our tattoos are of our first pet we got together, Elsie the hamster, and we bought each other the tattoos as Christmas gifts. I knew I wanted to get something from Charlotte Timmons at Modern Body Art in Birmingham, and as she does animals so wonderfully, Elsie was an obvious choice.

To me it makes no difference whether or not we have these tattoos, they do not control our lives and impact our future. They represent the fun we have had together, the things we have done as a couple and moments in our lives. I can look at them and remember the exact time we had them done nearly two years ago and why.

Would you consider getting a matching tattoo with your partner? Have you already got one?

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Saffron Reichenbacker at Axios Tattoo

Saffron Reichenbacker solo exhibition at Axios Tattoo studio.
Private View: Friday 17th July, 6 – 8:30pm
1 Hove Park Villas, BN3 6HP, Hove
Axios Tattoo studio opening hours: 10am – 5:30pm, Tuesday – Saturday
Exhibition runs until 3rd August.

Saffron Reichenbacker is a Brighton based artist inspired by a dream world of silver screen vampires and Weimar Berlin ghosts. She works primarily with ink sketches, which are then scanned and developed digitally. Using strong lines and bold colours, her pieces commonly take the form of imagined portraits. In these, she creates a mood that brings to life her dark dream vision of the 1920s. She loves cats, aerial circus and damn fine coffee.

Follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more art.


Axios Tattoo is run by Ade and Nigel,  the studio creates custom work with a high degree of freehand tattooing. Ade and Nigel are  both artists outside of tattooing, specialising in painting. Axios are unique in that they ‘want the shop to represent artists both inside and outside of the tattooing community, to become a hub for ‘outsider-lowbrow’ artists to show their work’.

Follow Axios on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more art work and tattoos.