Letter From The Editor

I’ve had a long-term, complicated relationship with the word “artist.” I don’t paint. I don’t draw. I can’t sing or act. I can take a decent picture, but I know very little about the art of photography. Whenever I move to a new city or even just visit one, the artist community is always the first to embrace me. And when people meet me for the first time, I often get asked, “So, are you an artist?” It’s a question that makes me freeze up.

I spent fifteen years of my life as a hair colorist. Anyone who has ever had their hair colored improperly or chemically damaged will tell you with certainty that hair color is an art and a science. But it took me a while to own the artistic side of my craft.

“Are you an artist?” someone would ask me.

“In a sense,” I would reply. “I’m a hair colorist.”

In hindsight, it seems ridiculous for me to have had trepidations about using the word artist when I would show up to work five days a week, put on an apron, pull out a paintbrush and use a full array of colors to paint people’s hair! I literally did it for a living, which not many artists can say. About halfway into my career, I remember deciding to take charge of my narrative by changing the title on my business card (remember those?) to “Hair Color Artisan.” It was very affirming. It relayed the fun side of my occupation to the public. It felt more like who I was rather than what I was doing.

So much of the weight I’ve placed on what defines an artist is based on how everyone else defines it. Yet, I’ve found myself leaving many an art exhibition after seeing what I perceive as a bunch of bullshit and thinking, “Well, I guess I’m a fuckin’ artist too, then!” Because what is art if not subjective?

I often find myself drawn to mixed media art, which is artwork composed of different forms of media or materials. Pulling things together from various places and repackaging them to create something new has always interested me. A parallel can be drawn between that and what I do with this magazine. I pull in work from writers, photographers, and artists and package it together in a way that I find compelling. I then put it into the world and let people formulate their opinions.

Despite that, I’ve yet again found myself freezing up at the question, “Are you an artist?” My happy middle ground has been to respond to people with, “Well, I like to identify more as a creative.” The term “creative” paints a much broader stroke. On paper, I am a publisher and an editor. But as soon as I say that out loud, it takes away all of the magic of what I actually do.

This magazine is a work of art that I produce as a publisher and editor. The content is cunt. I had the pleasure of sourcing it from some of NYC’s finest queer artists and creatives. The graphic design is cunt. I had the pleasure of providing the inspiration and setting the direction for the designer. Even on a tactile level, the magazine feels nice. I examined dozens of forms of paper stock, from light to heavy, glossy to matte, and from paper stock to card stock, before deciding what I wanted the magazine to feel like in your hands. I researched how colors appear on different paper types so that the end result looked the way I wanted it to: CUNT!

So guess what? I am a mutha-fuckin’ artist! Even if I just talked myself into it while writing this letter. I will no longer be diminished or held captive by others’ definitions of the word. I hope this letter inspires a few more people to do the same.

My biggest hope for Fag Rag NYC is that it is thoughtprovoking. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to like it, because again, art is subjective. My hope is that it’s more than just something you flip through and throw away. I hope there is something in here that you want to keep, an artist you want to follow, a writer who challenges the way you think about something. There is so much queer beauty and talent in this city. I want each issue of this magazine to offer a glimpse into that, especially from people within communities that are historically excluded. So take a look. Follow us on socials at @fagragmag. Share us with your friends. We’re the new girl in town.

Welcome to my exhibition.

With love and intention,

Tomik Dash

Mixed Media Artist

@tomik2point0