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tyneoconnell · 4 years

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My Godfather Quentin Crisp urged me to “live an extraordinary life “so my “Biographer would have something to write about!” ... He taught me that, “To be interesting, you must be interested, to be fascinating, you must be fascinated!” One of his best pieces of advice was “Find what really interests you & devote yourself to it completely!” So I did & I have & I do....discovering & breathing life back into the subversive women & LGBTQ+ Torchbearers of History who were deliberately ghosted from history texts by the prejudiced heteronormative historiography that put bigotry before facts, denying us thousands of LGBTQ+ heroes & heroines! From Mall Frith b.Mary 1584-1659 falsely portrayed as a criminal & immoral for daring to feel, dress, smoke, walk, act on stage & live & be buried as a man in a marble tomb on St Brides Church Fleet Street. A #poem by #johnmilton to #transgenderism on his headstone Celebrating #queerhistory #lgbtqia #womenshistory #blachistory #fashionasart #artasfashion @jeffreymichaelanderson @highfashionhockey #quentincrisp @velveteccentric #theliberator #danieloconnell #malfrith #queertorchbearers #transgenderhistory (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEkXitpgJEs/?igshid=1azuzwn2p6fy1

#poem #johnmilton #transgenderism #queerhistory #lgbtqia #womenshistory #blachistory #fashionasart #artasfashion #quentincrisp #theliberator #danieloconnell #malfrith #queertorchbearers #transgenderhistory

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

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Until recently #history was written by straight white male conformists, using a heteronormative calvinist historiography to create a fictional narrative of Great Straight White Men. Queer Torchbearers of history were either heteronormalised, ghosted or maligned. Let’s examine two great Queer Torchbearers of the 1600s - SHAKESPEARE & MALL FRITH The fragmented archives of the openly homosexual playwright Shakespeare (1564-1616) who exposed his sexual relationship with Sir William Herbert (son of his patron Countess of Pembroke) in his famous sonnets dedicated to W.H. & his Jacobean comedies dealing with “gender mobility” were reassembled to create the “fictional socially acceptable Shakespeare” - straight family man & Jacobean Playwright. Despite his prodigious output his death in Stratford in 1616 was barely noted unlike the death of the world’s first Celebrity #transman Mall Frith (born Mary 1584). Frith lived dressed, smoked, worked, acted, & fought as a man. His death in 1659 brought all of London out to mourn as Fleet Street Viaduct (next door to Frith’s famous Mansion) flowed with wine! Yet the archival evidence of Mall Frith’s far more prestigious origins on #aldersgatestreet London & his highly respectable profession as an authorised agent of the “Lords of Court”, #transgender actor, celebrity & royalist hero - whose life was honoured by an impressive marble tomb on #fleetstreet & engraved with a poem by #johnmilton in 1659 was maligned by historians via seedy fictional “biographies” of “Mall-Cupurse” - “moral deviant” & “petty criminal”. It’s time to celebrate the real Mall Frith who embodied the liberties & opportunities of the #baroque & the scientific revolution by defying gender stereotypes with good cheer & bravery! Stay tuned for my biography of Mall Frith - history’s first transgender celebrity coming soon #queertorchbearers #queerhistorymatters #lgbtqia #queerhistory #mallfrith @furiousgoose @markbruce @kreemart @daniellismore (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE-RL6cgV8X/?igshid=1qdz4p444bgf1

#history #transman #aldersgatestreet #transgender #fleetstreet #johnmilton #baroque #queertorchbearers #queerhistorymatters #lgbtqia #queerhistory #mallfrith

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

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Minuet written circa 1740 by celebrated #African #British #composer & Mayfair #Dandy #IgnatiusSancho b1729-1780 he arrived in England age 3 & went after finding a patron in Duke of Montagu he became the most celebrated #composer & #choreograph of #dancemusic throughout the #georgian & Regency Eras & beyond. He was the first black Britain to be a member of a gentleman’s club & In 1774 Sancho became the first Black Britain to vote in a general election. My own ancestor #danieloconnell #theliberator was inspired by Sancho when he pushed through the #Abolition Act 1833 & published the Book Of Shame listing over 300 pages of the Rogues who dared claim compensation for their slaves! O’Connell’s refusal to accept donations from wealthy American Slave Owners for the Irish Poor resulted in the Young Ireland Party Schism from the Repeal Party. O’Connell used the popularity of Sancho’s music as well as sancho’s abolitionist essays to persuade parliament to abolish slavery throughout the Empire. Sancho was a much loved celebrated man of letters & Byron declared him the “Dandy’s Dandy” such was his love of snappy waistcoats & finely cut #savilerowbespoke style! He spent fortunes living the high life. His friends included David Garrick, Samual Johnson & Angelica Kauffman - he was taught to play #harpsichord by Handel at the famous #lgbtqia salon of Dorothy Savile Burlington House Piccadilly, now @royalacademyarts - later he attended Elizabeth Montagues salon on #hillstreet Mayfair. For MORE ON SANCHO https://bit.ly/ignatiusS He was a leading Mayfair Eccentrics & his music is timeless 💜♾ #blackhistorymatters #mayfair #dandy #jermynstreet #savilerow #queertorchbearers #queerhistory #mayfairhistory 🎥 filmmaker @johndavidgusman #photographer @muirvidler #jermynstreet @highfashionhockey @southbankcentre @royalfestivalhall @meihuiliu8 @timyipstime (at Jermyn Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFFtUOpAy9O/?igshid=z1ewb02867io

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

Video

“I wear a pair of #handcrafted shoes that fit my soul like a #dandizettes glove Reminding me that #fashion is armour. Fashion is dangerous It is the quotidian rendered extraordinary by time. We are all latter day #cavaliers & #dandizettes riding into battle to sustain the world in our lace-trimmed scarlet capes It is the memories of our ancestor’s memories Swirling under the chandeliered, mirror-walled palaces, In a ballgown the colour of claret, Fleeing #olivercromwell #lgbtqia genocides For Fashion is the quotidian rendered infinite by poetry. We are all latter day #cavaliers and #dandies riding into battle to sustain the world in lace-trimmed scarlet capes Billowing parachute gowns snipped from fallen #WWII airmen plummeting from skies above We may die tomorrow; But in this moment we have the visual poetry of hand-crafted Dreams #neckshrines created from a stream of resplendent possibilities As we celebrate the power of #fashionasart to transform And toast the infinite ability of #artasfashion to transfigure For one day soon, we are going to party like it’s #1660 “ poem by ©️#tyneoconnell 7 October 2018 @southbankcentre #loveinfinity #royalfestivalhall @timyipstime @meihuiliu8 @lilili_untitled @daniellismore @dragsyndrome @therealpandemonia @velveteccentric @suekreitzman @suedraylcf @highfashionhockey @johndavidgusman @kreemart @markogm #environment #sustainablefashion #blacklivesmatter #queerhistory #queertorchbearers #eccentrics #baroque #history #artisans #bespokefashion (at Royal Festival Hall) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFFgy-LAYyS/?igshid=1bth259uyy0ei

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

Video

My riotous #birthday 7th October 2018 tripping the #mayfair light fantastic with #partygirl Lili & Tim Yip - spinning about the #artgalleries of #mayfair Following my #godfather Quentin Crisp’s guidance to me as a child: “you owe it to your biographer to make every day extraordinary!” Video @johndavidgusman Photographer @muirvidler @lilili_untitled @timyipstime @meihuiliu8 #quentincrisp @unitlondon @daniellismore @stjameshotelandclub #queertorchbearers #makinghistory #makingmemories #loveinfinityfilm #timyip #loveinfinity 🏳️‍🌈💜♾ (at Berkeley Square) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFDbRYTgYxN/?igshid=udnkpzqb9thk

#birthday #mayfair #partygirl #artgalleries #godfather #quentincrisp #queertorchbearers #makinghistory #makingmemories #loveinfinityfilm #timyip #loveinfinity

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

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@saatchi_gallery #sloanesquare viewing @highfashionhockey 3D artwork in the @goldsmithsmfa #londongradsnow show. Taylor explores the transman experience through the lens of “the created man”. As a historian writing the biography of the first #celebrity #transman Mall Frith (born Mary 1584-1659) I was fascinated by Taylor’s use of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s #monster #creatures #other Mall Frith endured a lifetime of bigotry in his Determination to live as a man. He was called a monster immoral & slandered as a thief - despite being an authorised agent of the Lords of Court (including Sir Francis Bacon). Frith was a man of means & celebrated by leading Royal Court playwrights Middleton & Dekker et al in numerous plays like the “Roaring Girl” - had For a spin a woman he would’ve been the first woman to act on the public stage. It isn’t it is disheartening to think that over 400 years later that transgender individuals are still facing the same bigoty. Mall grew up in the most prestigious street of London as the only child all a wealthy merchant Cordwainer (creator of bespoke shoes for noblemen & women crafted from the finest-textiles, leathers & exotic skins) with aristocrats, a Duke & poet John Milton as neighbours. He later purchased a mansion on Fleet Street - the centre of printing presses in the 1600s by the viaduct. His extraordinary life as a celebrated #transman ( referenced by #Shakespeare in “As You Like It”) actor & insurance broker to the aristocracy & Royalist hero he was buried with great ceremony in St Brides Church, Fleet Street 1659 & unlike Cromwell people across Britain wept. His marble tomb was carved with the poem by #johnmilton on transgenderism & he was celebrated throughout The Restoration. However Calvinist historians later defamed him & recreated a series of defamatory biographies deriding the once lauded Frith as a criminal & a prostitute based on prejudice rather than fact. Surely now it’s time that we re-examine these inspirational #queertorchbearers of #history for future generations 💜💜💜🏳️‍🌈🦉📚🌈 @furiousgoose @marilyncolemanrough @george_kouritas & Linda Bee 🐝 (at Saatchi Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEr_knlgqBx/?igshid=1kh61cwybp0g

#sloanesquare #londongradsnow #celebrity #transman #monster #creatures #other #shakespeare #johnmilton #queertorchbearers #history

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tyneoconnell · 4 years

Video

With @daniellismore @nationalliberalclub Celebrating The Baroque & the birth of Eccentricity - the Ancient Greek word ekkentros described the measurement of planets deviation from a circular orbit, ekk "out of" + kentron, “centre”. The words #eccentricity & #celebrity both words entered #britain & #ireland during the #jacobean 1603-1625 when Britain’s first openly gay monarch, King JamesI celebrated the #LGBTQIA thinkers & artists who’d been muted by the Calvinist prejudice of the #Elizabethian ⚜️#Shakespeare #Sir Francis Bacon #ElizabethCary #MaryWroth #InigoJones & other #Queer #eccentrics became #celebrities through the new freedoms & opportunities in the #Salons of the Jacobean & Caroline Era (1603-1942) who championed the cultural freedoms of the #aroque & new ideas of the #scientificrevolution ⚜️Eccentricity was valued over class, gender, colour & religion. Gender became more fluid enabling the rise of #Dandies #dandizettes & the fame & celebrity of transman actor Mall Frith (born Mary 1584-died Mall Frith 1659) who was the first transgender Torchbearer of History. Born into the artisan class of #cordwainers on Aldergate Street London amongst the aristocracy, next door to the famous Poet John Milton - Mall Frith became a household name as an #actor & his extraordinary journey to live & dress as a #transman & fight in the Civil War as a Royalist hero. Frith’s eccentricity & refusal to adhere to gender stereotypes was celebrated in the Restoration. Alas 400 years later, historians have maligned Frith as an immoral criminal based on Calvinist prejudice. This same prejudice has been used as a means of “racially & morally cleansing history” of women, LGBTQIAs & non-AngloSaxon Torchbearers of History & still too little is being done to redress this crime #artasfashion #fashionasart #queertorchbearers #historymatters #blackhistorymatters #womenshistorymatters #queerhistorymatters (at The National Liberal Club) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEw2_mwAp37/?igshid=11k63tl9omcmr

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