The outlandish and expressive work of the 20th century artist

Leigh Bowery, possibly the most outlandish artist of the 20th century, defined expressive artforms for years posthumously. Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, Bowery used his body as a medium for elaborate expression, combining elements of fashion, pop culture and the human experience to transform himself into walking art that shocked audiences.

Born to an orthodox family in a neighborhood in sunny Melbourne, Australia, Bowery felt apart from his community. He would skip out on church with his family, instead finding himself consuming British fashion through magazines. At 19, he moved to London and worked at Burger King before inserting himself into London nightlife.

His experimental form of expression attracted many collaborators—Michael Clark, David Bowie,

Massive Attack and Boy George, to name a few. One of Bowery’s closest friends in life, singer-songwriter Boy George, honored him, saying, “Leigh Bowery created outfits that made him look deformed, which was very brave. I believe this was the main thing that gave Bowery his edge. His designs were often breath-taking, but it was the way he used his body that was so utterly new and refreshing.”

That is what Bowery contributed—grotesquely unique art. Blurring the lines between fashion and art, Leigh revealed his mind with flamboyant looks and controversial performance pieces. From enemas to vomiting to birth scenes, nothing was too far for him. Unforgettably, Leigh “gave birth” to his own wife on stage, pulling linked sausages from under his clothes as an umbilical cord.

Bowery morphed himself into unrecognizable, provocative life forms. He would carve holes into his cheeks to hook safety pins, tape his groin into a feminine looking silhouette and drip colored glue over his bald head. Often, he fully morphed himself into sculpturesque creatures, extending his stomach and head with giant spheres and emphasizing the odd. Once, he dressed in black latex, portraying his

6-foot-1-inch frame as a dominatrix. He explored sexuality and sexual expression, bending gender and twisting normative aesthetics in ways which had previously been unseen. Predictably, his fashion had a massive impact on drag culture.

Bowery was also a club promoter, the main ambassador of Taboo, a night club that opened in 1985.

He originally made his name appearing at the club every weekend in his absurd creations. People would show up to Taboo just to gawk at Bowery. No matter if he was standing on 6-inch platforms, sweating behind layers of uncomfortable textiles or caked in makeup, Bowery made the most out of every night. These nights of extravaganza went on to inspire Boy George to help write Taboo, the musical.

Between club appearances, Bowery worked closely with Michael Clark’s dance company, sometimes even dancing for him, designed costumes for the band Culture Club and creative directed the band Massive Attack. In 1988, Bowery turned his work into a live exhibit at London’s Anthony D’Offay gallery. He sprawled on a sofa for hours, gazing at his own reflection while passersby observed.

Famous painter Lucian Freud understood Bowery’s vision like no other and the two became very close. Bowery posed in uncomfortable contortions as Freud’s muse in a series of nude paintings, capturing the raw beauty of the naked body.

From Charles Jeffrey’s club-located catwalks to Alexander McQueen’s sex-doll lips, Bowery’s work is referenced everywhere. Makeup artists, fashion designers, drag queens and even Lady Gaga’s most far-out attire can credit much of their inspiration to the taboo mind of Leigh Bowery. A trained eye can catch glimpses of Bowery’s art in Dior and Fendi fashion, his creative mind undeniably influential.

On New Year’s Eve of 1994, Bowery passed away from AIDS, just as combination therapies were beginning to be introduced to help prolong the lives of those with HIV. However, his legacy has long outlived him. A friend and director of Bowery, Stewart Laing, recounted him as “the person that came nearest to living his life as a work of art.”

Photos

WRITTEN BY RILEY BROWN

omen. They’ve been the muses for breathtaking art, subjects of potent love songs and have been seen as embodiments of the word beauty, as well as the subjects of history’s hardship. As early as the thirteen colonies’ formation, American women didn’t have much say on what went on upon new territory’s soil. Men were regarded as the leaders in this society as they had the ability to engage politically and socially in the community. However, well-behaved women rarely make history and it was only a matter of time before traditional molds were broken and boundaries began to be tested.

The Salem Witch Trials are regarded as one of the most infamous events to take place in American History due to their shocking and horrific nature. The events that sparked the witch trials began with a group of young girls in 1692.

WThey claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several other women in their town of witchcraft. Although church politics of the time and family feuds fed into the mass hysteria that arose, fear was the driving factor. Even in today’s media, nearly four centuries after the witch trials, witches are typically painted as villains and evil beings to stay away from. A lot of the fear spawns from the immense power witches are portrayed to have possession of. Could that be due to society’s inability to fathom an empowered woman? Are women in power an attack on the patriarchal status quo?

The “picture perfect,” somewhat problematic viewing of a “traditional woman” is usually accompanied by the role of women as mothers, caretakers or individuals confined to household tasks like cooking or cleaning. However, as time progressed and shifted into a more modern era, attitudes towards women’s rights were slowly being reflected in society. The first women’s rights movement took place in 1848 and was just the beginning for shaping what the world could look like for women. In 1920s America, women gained the right to vote and although society accepted their independence in the realm of education, jobs, marital status and their role in the public sphere rather than just their home lives, that was predominantly reserved for just white women. By the 1960s and ‘70s, media and pop culture steadily mirrored those changes which were evident in fashion, Hollywood and the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. Even as society was getting more modernized, gender roles still came into play, some of which are even observable in many instances today. Femininity and delicacy, as well as the traits that come with them, like being polite or accommodating, are still generally expected of women. Society is also a generally male dominated place, although strides have been taken to equalize the rife between men and women. There’s less hesitation to speak out against injustice and discrimination, and more awareness has been brought to the subject in order to educate the public. The topic of women’s empowerment is certainly not uniform throughout the world, or even from culture to culture or race to race. There are still advantages to being a woman who looks a certain way or lives in a certain location or

‘‘expresses their gender identity in what some might consider traditional. Particularly those who are white, thin, pretty and live in a country where there’s freedom to express feminism or fight against inequality. There’s no perfect blueprint to what being a woman in today’s world looks like, nor will there ever be. Many incredible women in today’s society amplify female empowerment, such as Dylan Mulvaney, Malala Yousafzai, Rihanna and countless others who continually make strides for women to gain access to the resources they need to achieve their goals and be authentic to themselves.

Although the perfect equilibrium of power has not been reached nationally or globally, there has been an immense progression towards that goal. Looking back to where American women originally stood socially, politically and economically, there’s been a revolution of change throughout history’s course. Female empowerment has certainly come a long way despite its many obstacles, and hopefully will continue to advance towards new milestones in the future. Plus, who’s to say the witches ever really went away?

Women have fought for power again and again and yet it seems to evade their grasp. There are still accounts of violence and sexual abuse, women going missing without a trace, women reduced to silence as their voices are trampled over by men. There are constant patterns that repeat throughout history of women being cut down, treated poorly or punished for testing societal limits. Will there ever be an end to the ceaseless waves of inequality that get brushed off as if they were nothing?