“Butch Heroes” project by Ria Brodell,
Butch Heroes is a series of paintings that documents transgender people throughout history. This project started in 2010 by Ria Brodell–a non-binary trans artist, based in Boston, US. Butch Heroes is created in Catholic holy card format, since the artist is inspired by the collection of holy cards from their (pronouns for Ria Brodell) childhood memory that tells about the stories of saints. The holy card is a provocative form to present the forgotten life of transgender people.
“Captain Wright c. 1834 England” (2016) is one of the paintings in the Butch Heroes project. Captain Wright is sitting on a chair and holding a rabbit, while some rabbits surrounding them (pronouns for Captain Wright). Next to the Captain, a glass and two bottles of grog stand on the table. The calm color wallpaper is decorated by photos and paintings become a background of Captain Wright. The artist was successful with combining both feminine and masculine aspects in this painting.
This painting is inspired by the story of Mr. Wright or Captain Wright in The Bell’s New Weekly Messenger in 1834. That newspaper wrote about the finding of Captain Wright’s corpse that was identified as a female body. During their life, Captain Wright lives with Mrs. Wright as husband and wife at Kennington Lane, UK. Captain Wright is often seen enjoying his glass of grog in the nearby public houses. They also are rabbit lovers.
Butch Project is an alternative way to present LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) in media. Based on Trans Media Watch’s survey, bias on the news reports can contribute to hostilities against transgender people. Butch Project offers an alternative image about “what it means to be LGBTQIA”. It can minimize discrimination and harassment to transgender and also defy the strict division of gender and sexuality. This project also helps society to document the history of LGBTQIA people, since queer people are usually written in censored explanation.
