Tag Archives: art in berlin

My removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield tiara!

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Removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield crown by Suzanne Forbes 2I made this quite early in lockdown, probably April, and have been using it all year!

It’s made out of holographic vinyl, cut into decorative shapes and glued together, with crystals and snakeskin pvc and jellie rhinestones.

Removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield crown by Suzanne Forbes 2I used glitter glue gun to stick parts of it together!

I am wearing a face mask made by Beloved Friend-Muse-Patron Shakrah Yves!

Removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield crown by Suzanne Forbes 2The holo vinyl tiara is flexible, and wraps around the plastic face shield brow piece.

I cut holes that line up with the studs on the brow piece and fastened it onto the studs.

Removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield crown by Suzanne Forbes 2Then the clear plastic face shield just pops over the same studs!

The face shield portion can be easily switched if it needs to be replaced, and of course the tiara part can be easily switched to a different brow piece, as long as it has the same array of studs. If I were making another, I would definitely make a vinyl base and fit it to the brow piece, test the face shield, then decorate it, as this one wrinkles a little under the face shield.

Removable holographic vinyl and crystal decorative face shield crown by Suzanne Forbes 2I was gonna wear it for a remote photoshoot with a local photographer, to help normalize wearing face shields and face coverings.

But I decided to give them money to do shoots with BIPOC folx instead. So this project was in un-shared limbo, and now I’m documenting it and sharing 🙂

I do really love the idea of custom snazzy faceshields, and want to see more! Gieza Poke did marvelous customizations with face shields during the fall IRL return of the Poke House to Monster Ronsons, you can see one here. Fashion face shields for all!

 

Two generations of Berlin gender-interrogation performers share the stage and double the power!

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Bridge Markland with cigar Nov 17 by Suzanne ForbesI was so excited when I saw Bridge Markland would be performing with Buba Sababa!

Bridge, who’ve I have drawn many times, is an incredible icon of Queer Berlin, a Drag Queen/King and genderfuckery artist who has created decades of transgressive works. During the early quarantine days Bridge shared archived show ephemera like press, flyers and posters on Instagram. You can really see what a pioneering role she played in international gender performance theater.

Plus, she has created some of the strangest and most unnerving puppet shows you will ever see! And danced and written and taught and modeled for artists and so much more. Bridge celebrates 35 years on stage this year!

This show, queens + kings special with Bridge Markland + Buba Sababa, included multiple acts and reveals and so many sheddings of skin!

And Bridge shares the stage with generosity and grace, welcoming Berlin’s new generation of gender-play performers.

Buba Sababa Nov 17 by Suzanne ForbesSeeing Venus Boy Buba Sababa onstage with Bridge Markland was fantastic.

Buba Sababa is a radical talent, a fearless performer who really gets into it with the audience. In the drawing above you see Buba eating sweets and dancing to “Sugar Sugar” in macho persona, which was layered and intense. There was also a video collage piece spotlighting toxic masculinity which was hard to watch and yet heart-wrenching, and Buba dancing in femme mode in veils, and much more. Buba is part of the amazing Venus Boys, “a collective of Berlin based Drag performers who paint from the palette of performative masculinity”. I have drawn Buba before as well, and hope to draw Buba many times in the future.

In the chat people were saying things like “I feel like I should have paid 125 euros ticket for this and I don’t have any money” and “DED FOREVER DED”. It was a Tuesday night twitch show but it felt like we were in some prestigious theater watching an experimental show funded by Udo Kier. Seeing these two generations of Berlin gender-performance work and dance together was stunning.

queens + kings special with Bridge Markland + Buba Sababa was part of Camillo Queer Cinema Week, which is online this year. You can see the programm here. There are more events to come!

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me work safely at home, documenting Berlin performers.