Thanks to everyone who came out for making this event a huge success. We raised over $2,000 for Different Avenues.
View Photos from the event here.
Tearing at the Seams is a collaborative project that deconstructs the confining and marginalizing notions of beauty and expression. This production will feature designers, artists, performers, models, stylists and artistic production crews who get little exposure in mainstream media. It is a night for underrepresented folks of all shapes, sizes, genders, abilities, cultures and experiences to represent themselves! It is a place for voyeurs and do-it-yourself enthusiasts of all kinds to bask in the knowledge that YES! there are people out there that look like me showing off what they got—and damn are they hot!
The fact is, mainstream media and art does NOT represent the vast diversity within creative communities, nor does the mainstream highlight the potential that all of us have for creative expression and feeling beautiful. The mainstream media replaces our own words, our own shapes, sizes and cultural expression with one, monolithic idea of beauty. The truth is, we have our own ideas!
On June 11th, we will set our own stage and put forth our own notions of what sexiness, beauty and style means to us. There will be craft/clothing vendors, music, raffle prizes, visual/multi-media artwork, performance, runway walks, comedy and a festive environment to meet partners in crime for your own campaign to tear away at the mundane and oppressive conventions of beauty. All proceeds will benefit Different Avenues, an organization that provides access to health care, HIV prevention and sexual health education and other services to transgendered, gay, lesbian or bisexual young people in DC. We believe that the work of Different Avenues will help tear at the seams of destructive, mainstream notions of what is beautiful on an ongoing basis. |
