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Mrs. Vera’s Nap, Michael Johnstone, photograph
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Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, artist Michael Johnstone settled in San Francisco in 1980, where he photographed queer theater people, drag queens, and club performers. Ten years later most of those whom he photographed were gone, casualties of the AIDS epidemic. “There was too much loss for one mind’s memory,” said Johnstone. Meanwhile, his own health was severely compromised.
The character Mrs. Vera was born in this period, created by Johnstone and his partner David Faulk, and named after the popular designer of scarves. Faulk fabricates the costumes from recycled materials and is Mrs. Vera in the photographs. In Johnstone’s work, the notion of drag is both deconstructed and celebrated. Mrs. Vera’s wild layers of costumes embody “fragments of a drag memory tornado,” says Johnstone. She wears accessories created from recycled objects, and is also the keeper of wigs and artifacts from Johnstone’s “lost culture.” In public, Mrs. Vera and Johnstone act as ambassadors at events and festivals to remind people to value difference and celebrate the eccentric aspects of life. They often engage friends to participate in group performances.
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Verasphere, Michael Johnstone, photograph
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InQueering Minds:
Art and Gender Identity
Panel Discussion with
Wine and Chocolate Reception
Saturday, October 18
6:30 pm–7:00 pm Art Viewing and Reception
7:00 pm–8:00 pm Panel Discussion
CIIS Minna Street Center
Moderator: Elizabeth Stephens
Panelists: Annie Sprinkle, Rudy Lemcke, and Tina Takemoto
About Visual Aid
Located in downtown San Francisco, Visual Aid is a nonprofit art organization that encourages visual artists with life-threatening illnesses to continue their creative work by providing free art supplies, exhibition opportunities, and community.
WEBSITES: www.verasphere.com, www.visualaid.org
Made possible by a grant from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Horizons Foundation
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