Portrait | Killerfemme

By Chrisdoodles on Instagram!

Recently I’ve had the pleasant surprise of receiving two drawings! The one above by my Instagram friend Chrisdoodles was done from a picture I posted when I was all decked out and ready to go to the Cherylween: Prellraiser dance party (you can see the original here). The picture below was on a flyer for another iteration of the Suzanne Stroebe and Caitline Rueter’s Feminist Tea Party, which I participated in when they were at the New York Foundation for the Arts. It shows me leading a discussion about feminist art and aesthetics and if there is such a thing.

I love these two pictures because not only are they graphically bold and match my aeshetic, but because they capture two sides of my life that sometimes feel very distinct from each other: there’s the side of me that wants to dress up, have fun, wear an outlandish costume, dance with my friends, indulge in silliness and and forget about the world. Then there’s the side of me that is thoughtful, easy going, cautious, and measured. I want to sit down and engage in discussions in a reasonable manner about the big questions and how to address them: inequality, culture, art, ideas. I think these two drawings show that our lives are complex, and that’s what makes them balanced, nuanced, complicated and joyous.

ECW + SMH, July 2011. By Dominick Mastrangelo.

I’ve told you a lot about my talented friend Dominick and the great photos he takes. He’s shot my band Corita on numerous occasions, but he does more than shoot music. Earlier this summer he came over to my apartment to do a food photo shoot with me and SMH for our food blog 2 Cooks in the Kitchen. We’ll have those photos (and recipes!) up there soon, but I wanted to take this opportunity to share this photo with you. I know SMH hates his photo on the internet, but I wanted to share this one. I love it because it’s so honest. It was taken on a Sunday. I was tired. We had been cooking in a hot kitchen at a fast pace for several hours. I was not wearing any make up, my hair is too long and out of order, and our house is a mess. But when you look at this photo none of that matters. It’s an honest portrait of two people and their feelings. That’s why I love Dominick’s photography so much.