{"product_id":"unsupervised-lessley-bender-self-portrait-claude-s-jacket-framed-photo","title":"UNSUPERVISED - Lessley Bender - Self Portrait \/ Claude’s Jacket framed photo","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSelf Portrait \/ Claude’s Jacket\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFramed photographic print\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e10.5\" x 13\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e$125\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI am a Bay Area-based artist working with oil painting, photography, printmaking, and fiber art practices such as quilting, garment construction, and crochet soft sculpture. My most recent work is focused on experiences of place and questions surrounding queer ecology: Who survives and is visible in their survival? As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, I view tides as a metaphor for the human experience. Intertidal zone inhabitants like kelp, invertebrates, and herons must all navigate extremes of abundance and scarcity, just as many queer people are required to do under the current political climate. In paintings, quilts, and film photographs, I center this imagery and often place disembodied human hands at the perimeter as though grasping for something beyond understanding. I am an elementary educator in Berkeley and a graduate of the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy. My role as an educator helps me maintain playfulness in my artistic practice, while my background in the sciences informs the detail and interest with which I represent the natural world. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis year, I read Jennifer Laurie Shaw’s excellent biography of the French Surrealist artist and writer Claude Cahun, who is known for their androgynous self portraiture and resistance to Nazi occupation in the 1940s. Cahun defied gender norms and used humor and parody as activism in remarkably contemporary ways. I especially love Cahun and Marcel Moore’s portrait from 1928: It feels like a beacon from the past reaching out with instructions for surviving the present. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo, I set out to recreate their jacket, and their self portrait, in hopes of channeling what Cahun carried with them. Nearly 100 years later, we find ourselves in the position of resisting fascism locally and nationally, and as the phrase goes, we have always been here. We will continue to follow our queer ancestors’ blueprints for the future. This self portrait, shot on film in an East Bay redwood forest, symbolizes the perseverance of trans, non-binary, and genderqueer people to express and exist with assertive joy. In the process of quilting and sewing the garment, I participated in the long history of queer people making their own worlds and visions for themselves. “Masculine? Feminine? Depends on the situation.” - Claude Cahun\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Queer Arts Featured","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67533627162815,"sku":"LB01","price":181.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/4583\/9807\/files\/428921510448LessleyBender_SelfPortraitClaudesJacket_8x10_filmphotoonpaper_2026.jpg?v=1790833261","url":"https:\/\/queerartsfeatured.myshopify.com\/products\/unsupervised-lessley-bender-self-portrait-claude-s-jacket-framed-photo","provider":"Queer Arts Featured","version":"1.0","type":"link"}