Extraordinary Mariette Pathy Allen retrospective to open at WEAM in Miami Beach

MIAMI, Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WEAM and the Kinsey Institute are pleased to present a new exhibition, Mariette Pathy Allen: Breaking Boundaries, which will open on December 2nd, 2024 to start off Miami Art Week.

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Exhibition: Mariette Pathy Allen: Breaking Boundaries
Curated by: Jesse Egner and Orestes Gonzalez, organized by Rebecca Fasman (Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington)
Location: WEAM, 1205 Washington Avenue, Miami, FL
Dates: December 2, 2024 - July 2025
Opening: December 2nd, 6-7pm Press & VIP preview, 7-10pm public opening

We are proud to present an extraordinary retrospective of the groundbreaking work of photographer Mariette Pathy Allen, whose ongoing practice over the last five decades has captured the love, beauty, intimacy, joy, and heartache of transgender and gender-expansive communities across the globe. This exhibition offers a powerful look into the evolution of attitudes toward transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender non-conforming individuals, seen through the lens of an artist who has dedicated her career to the humane and dignified portrayal of these communities.

Mariette Pathy Allen's photographic journey with gender diversity began in 1978, with images of this often underrepresented community defying the sensationalism often seen in media coverage at the time. Her intimate portraits of individuals, couples, and families depicted as relatable people helped reshape the then common perceptions of gender-variant individuals as freaks or deviants. Allen's disarming modus operandi throughout her career has been to extend invitations to countless individuals to be themselves in front of her camera. In her photographs, Allen and her subjects bear witness to the profound truths of gender-nonconformity; truths she beheld since the first time she took a photograph of a transgender person in 1978 and felt she was "not looking at a man or a woman, but the essence of a human being."

Allen's first book, Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them (1989), was a groundbreaking exploration and recognition of this widely overlooked and misunderstood community depicting them as partners, lovers, parents, families, and friends. Allen's 2003 book, The Gender Frontier, illustrates and reflects upon a changing political climate through photographs and text covering political activism, queer youth, and a range of transgender people in the United States. Since then, Allen has turned her lens to other parts of the world to photograph gender-expansive communities internationally, leading to her books TransCuba and Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand. Published in 2014, TransCuba documents the transgender community of Cuba during a time of increased visibility and acceptance. Transcendents, published three years later in 2017, provides a glimpse into the gender variant world of spirit mediums in Burma and Thailand. Allen has also been continuing her work in the United States with an ongoing series titled Gender Expanded, offering representations and celebrations of transgender identities, experiences, and relationships.

This comprehensive exhibition traces the progression of Allen's career, spanning five decades of work in support of transgender visibility and dignity. Her photographs continue to serve as both artistic treasures and historical documents of a community that has been continuously marginalized, yet thrives with strength and perseverance—especially during our current political climate that is once again changing, in ways that attempt to diminish the validity of transgender individuals and threaten their safety.

This exhibition travels to WEAM in Miami, a museum well-known and beloved for their beautiful and provocative exhibitions. Both Kinsey and WEAM are thrilled to be able to present these timely and impactful works at a time when the rights of LGBTQIA+ people are under attack.

Visit weam.com to get your ticket for the opening reception. Additionally, Forbidden Fruit: The Art of Cuban Sexuality, a historic exhibition of Cuban erotic art will also be opening that evening. Forbidden Fruit is the largest known exhibition dedicated to Cuban erotic art ever held, on-or-off the island,  with over 100 works across painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography from the last 90 years, spanning from the legendary Cuban "Vanguardia" (Vanguard) generation up to contemporary artists.

This exhibition opens on December 2^nd and will remain on view through July 2025.

SOURCE Wilzig Museum Building