These are a handful of paintings from the series “Butch Heroes,” by artist Ria Brodell. The concept was based on her meticulous research, digging up historically forgotten figures from all over the world from between the 1400s and the 1800s, of people who were assigned female, had documented relationships with women, and whose gender presentation leaned towards the masculine – passing as men or dressing and working in typically “male” ways for the time. She grew up Catholic, and so drawing from that, the depictions are reminiscent of saint cards (and pretty heavy on the martyrdom, warning for that). She doesn’t use pronouns for any of them because there is no way to know how they would have self conceptualized then, let alone now – the only thing we have is the descriptions of how they lived their lives, and how they died. A lot of them – in particular, the “non martyrs” – were “deathbed discoveries,” a phrase used often in old newspapers and writings about people who passed until after dying. There is something so powerful to see depictions of people like us as revered saints… particularly as these stories have been hidden from history.
More paintings, along with detailed descriptions of these peoples’ lives: (x)
More in depth information about the series and her process: (x)
“My concept of a man is someone who whacks their elbow a little bit at a bertuccis and has no hang ups about freaking out. Zero qualms going full Streetcar Named Desire at 2 PM in a bertuccis.” is my favorite chris fleming line of all time
Me when I see a fairy circle: oh no 👀👀👀 I’d better not sleep in this fairy circle 👀👀👀 and be whisked away 👀👀👀 to the land of the fairies 👀👀👀 where I will be wed to the fairy queen and never be able to return to this mortal land 👀👀👀
Me loving Laverne Cox and thinking she’s beautiful or wanting to be an influential speaker like her one day does not magically cure me of my transmisogyny. Wishing that Amiyah Scott would be my wife/personal stylist does not magically cure me of my transmisogyny. Screeching like the fangirl that I am when Janet Mock oh so casually spills tea on Twitter does not cure me of transmisogyny. And that goes for every other cis person out there too. Let’s not act like captioning a pic of Laverne with “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS” means that we will never again have to be self-reflective and examine the ways in which we may contribute to large scale transmisogyny.
Also like not being transmysoginist is a praxis. It’s something you have to constantly learn and adjust as our society is prone to finding new ways of discrimination and microagressions.
the mcelroys deciding they will be in trolls 2 then documenting their journey to actually being in trolls 2 is the EPITOME of putting an idea out into the world and making it happen like i love that confidence and its honestly so inspiring
same energy as just calling the knights templar and asking to join
so like… obviously the proper wendigo from native american lore isn’t something to mess around with, and i fully respect the culture behind it. and i don’t totally see where the cannibal who became twisted through excessive cannibalism turned into… black fluffy animals/werewolf type animals with skull faces (especially the herbivorous ones?).
my question is does anyone have a better term for the black fluffy skull creatures other than wendigo though? it leaves a bad taste in my mouth calling them wendigo, but i love them so much and want to make a few of them myself. i dont want to infringe on the proper wendigo lore though, and while wendigo is a glorious name for a creature i dont want to link them to the name even.
I gotcha, fam
Presenting one of my favorites of Irish mythology- the Puca!
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The púca (Irish for spirit/ghost), pooka, phouka, phooka, phooca, puca or púka is primarily a creature of Celtic folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune, they could either help or hinder rural and marine communities. The Púca can have dark or staunch white fur or hair.
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The Puca are shapeshifters, who can appear as black dogs, horses, etc. They often show up in taverns, and drinking with a Puca promises a super fun night! They’re also tricksters of the fae world, with varied natures puca to puca, and are quite powerful.
Best of all, they’re not part of sacred culture. You can make them look damn near like whatever you want, though fluffy and black with horns and claws is their usual shtick. They even transform into humans sometimes (usually when in a tavern and needing to pass for a normal patron).
Totally non-offensive to bang to your heart’s content!
bongdanceking 