IG @jopattyn
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Jo Pattyn
Category: lgbtq
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Giel Domen
Photo: Domen & Van de Velde
Model: Hannelore Knuts
Styling: Pablo Patane
Make-up: Liselotte van Saarloos
Hair: Joeri Rouffa
Giel Domen: “Where dreams are allowed, where fantasies exist, that’s the most perfect beauty.”
IG @domenvandevelde
IG @gieldomen
We are all about positive words to steer the spirit up, which is why the ‘It Gets Better’ project caught our attention.
The mission of this non-profit organisation is to empower and connect the LGBTQ+ community worldwide.
They do this by providing support and inspiration with online resources for parents, educators, and kids to engage with real, first-hand accounts of LGBTQ+ experiences.
One of the many volunteers working on this project is Adrianna Jereb, an Elementary School Reading Coach and High School Spanish Tutor. She told us; “I want to see a future where gender and sexuality are unremarkable aspects of identity. I want the world to be better for younger generations, and that means we need to teach them to recognise and reject systemic injustices. We need to teach them to respect, love themselves and each other as unique individuals and, we need to teach them that we are not settling just because it has got ‘better’ — but that we will keep working until we are all safe, accepted, and free.“ A cause we are right behind. Nobody has to feel alone. There are always people ready to support once you create moves to make life better.
Find out more at https://itgetsbetter.org/
Written by Kym Nelson
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Chris Philippo
Chris Philippo: “Pure Beauty to me, is the reason that we smile, we feel, we survive and therefore we are. It is the reason we feel pain and therefore feel joy.”
IG @chrisphilippo
I am a singer/songwriter/producer and artistic director. I own Isotop Records. My mission: to create beauty through sounds, words and visuals with always an edge of humor. True beauty doesn’t take itself seriously. It just exists— it never needs to feel superior nor to compare itself- as it understands its uniqueness.
About Love Elastic:
I was conceived in Fort Lauderdale. My parents got engaged on a specific strip of beach called Sebastian (before it was the gay bit) where they had been escaping regularly for years to just be—- lovers. As a kid they took me there. I was happy. It was our ”fetish” vacation location. On my 4th Birthday, mom died. And I returned alone with my father each year well into my teens– bitter sweet each time.
Flash forward many years; I have cancer/recover from it/dad had died by then and I decided to revisit my childhood beach during my post-surgery down time…
Boom; I meet my husband EXACTLY sitting where I’d been building sand castles. We get engaged— on Sebastian. We spend 6 fantastic years together and suddenly he gets a dream job offer abroad. I push him to accept. I can’t allow him to miss out on his destiny…
This pushes me to write ”Love Elastic”! The idea being: ”Because true love isn’t possessive, it is flexible, its shape morphs through time, it rarely breaks; — it is elastic”
He filmed the video for the song— we returned to the beach one last time. It was magical- a wonderful way to say goodbye. It’s by far my favorite clip. And Fort Lauderdale remains sacred in my heart… I visit Europe, more exotic locations- more glamorous ones; nothing beats Sebastian to me!
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Mandy Webb
This piece of work represents beauty, it represents all the beautiful people that have lost their lives due to this cruel disease. It represents all the people living day to day as HIV positive. It is a beautiful legacy to all to never forget and to remind everyone that this disease still very much affects people, it doesn’t discriminate. Over 6000 various Red Ribbons were stitched lovingly onto this dress. It is also a beautiful reminder of the time I have been luckily given to be able to complete it and exhibit it as much as possible.
Title: Red Ribbon Dress (2012)
I took this photo in February, the last time my husband and I were able to go out. For me, it speaks to the loneliness and isolation we long-term HIV/AIDS survivors endure.
Title: My Wheelchair (2020)
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Samet Durgun
“Come Get Your Honey” is a story about the transgender and queer refugees in Berlin. While respecting their struggle, it shows my journey of weaving bonds with a community through fragility, friendship and joy. This work rejects current mainstream narratives on queer and refugee identities, which widely reduce them to their agony. This is performed either by romanticising their pain and struggle, or surgically exploring their body from the “outsider” gaze. Instead, my work aims to depict them as complex human beings in their wholeness, trying to establish a new home in a foreign country and an extremely polarised political climate. As a queer person with a desire to live better, I intimately relate to their pursuit and draw references from my own life.
Title: Come Get Your Honey
Website: http://www.sametdurgun.com
Samet Durgun: ““Come Get Your Honey” is a story about the transgender and queer refugees in Berlin. While respecting their struggle, it shows my journey of weaving bonds with a community through fragility, friendship and joy.”
Big Hair, Big Love
We decided to use this shoot as a campaign for Beauty for a Better World. Together with the BFBW founder we created this story. For me, this is perfect beauty, beauty with a twist, beauty with a dream, and a vision.
There is a huge need to dream again; the world needs inspiration more than ever. We need to collect all this beauty as a massive shoutout to let people create and dream again. Transgender and gay people are still the centre of disrespect and incomprehension.
With this story, I want to show that there is nothing more beautiful than a body in its pure art form. Whatever gender, whatever orientation you are, it’s all the same: love.”
Giel Domen: “I want to show that there is nothing more beautiful than a body in its pure art form. Whatever gender, whatever orientation you are, it’s all the same: love.”