Hot Topic: portraits by Kirsten McCrea

Cathy Opie is a documentary photographer whose work often focuses on transgendered people. Features of her oeuvre include auto-mutilated self-portraits, portraits of performance artist Ron Athey, and portraits of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) couples reminiscent of Hans Holbein’s portraiture. To execute some of these portraits, she utilized a polaroid camera as large as a room, producing one-of-a-kind polaroids that measure from 10 to 12 feet.

Marlon Riggs was a poet, educator, film-maker and outspoken gay rights activist. He produced, wrote and directed several socially provocative films which examine representations of race and sexuality in America including; Ethnic Notions, Tongues Untied, Colour Adjustment and Black is…Black ain’t.

Dorothy Allison is the author of the much celebrated, semi-autobiographical novel ‘Bastard Out of Carolina’. Themes in her work include class struggle, child and sexual abuse, feminism, lesbianism, and the family. She is involved with PEN, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and Feminists for Free Expression and is also one of the founders of the Lesbian Sex Mafia an information and support group for women of all sexual orientation and identity.

While the members of Le Tigre are not mentioned in the song, Hot Topic, the artist has included their portraits in the series as a nod to their own significant cultural contributions. They are:

Jocelyn Samson, or JD Samson as she is better known, has been a member of Le Tigre since 2000 when she replaced Sadie Benning. She is a co-founder of the conceptual dance group Dykes Can Dance which performs unannounced, choreographed dance routines around New York in an attempt to break the stereotype of lesbians as bad dancers. Samson is currently touring as DJ JD and working on a remix album with Johanna Fateman, entitled Men.

Johanna Fateman Despite an initial struggle, Johanna Fateman feels she achieved her dream of becoming an artist when she went on tour in late 2000 as part of the band Le Tigre of which she is a founding member. Alongside this she began to produce some solo work under the title Swim With The Dolphins; a reference to the same titled book, which is subtitled How Women Can Succeed in Corporate America On Their Own Terms. Prior this she was responsible for producing a number of ‘zines including Snarla, ArtaudMania!!!, The diary of a Fan, The Opposite, The Opposite Part II and My Need to Speak on the Subject of Jackson Pollock, which has led to her being known by some as ‘the zine queen’. She continues to write to this day whilst working as receptionist and organizer in the New York salon Seagull.

Kathleen Hanna From a very early age Kathleen Hanna has harboured a passion for art and music directed primarily by a concern for women’s issues. Motivated to become an activist following the censorship of her college art exhibition, which dealt with the issue of sexism, she went on to become heavily involved in the feminist music scene of the early 90s performing in bands such as Amy Carter, Viva Knievel, Bikini Kill and co-founding Le Tigre. During this time she was responsible for putting on several art exhibitions and was also involved with a number of ‘zines. She is widely considered to be an icon of the riot grrrl movement which took its name from a zine called Riot Grrrl, produced by Alison Wolfe of the band Bratmobile and her bandmate Molly.