Joelle Circé Laramée is a Canadian visual artist, painter, queer feminist and transgender advocate whose work explores women's bodies, female sexuality, identity and women's social and political realities. Born in Montreal, Quebec, into a working-class Catholic family, she developed an interest in drawing and painting during childhood and later studied drawing and oil painting at a private fine arts school in Montreal between 1981 and 1984. Much of her artistic education has also been self-directed, particularly her exploration of traditional painting techniques and the works of the Old Masters. Her identity as a transgender woman, lesbian, femme and feminist has strongly influenced her artistic perspective. Through her work, she portrays women in both vulnerable and powerful states, celebrating their beauty, diversity and strength while challenging misogyny and social prejudices. Initially concentrating on landscapes and portraits, Joelle gradually turned her attention to women and their bodies. One of her best-known projects is a series of paintings and drawings celebrating female genitalia, inspired partly by her experiences following gender-affirming surgery and her questions about whether her body resembled those of other women.
What began as a personal exploration developed into a broader celebration of vulva diversity and a challenge to the shame surrounding female sexuality. Partly inspired by Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, she became involved in feminist activities, organising workshops and giving university lectures in Montreal. She also participated in McGill University's V-Day events, sharing information about transgender issues and supporting campaigns against violence towards women. Her paintings address female genital mutilation, erotic expression, body image, queer relationships and women's empowerment. In Smashing Images, she challenges conventional standards of female beauty. She frequently works with women from her community, particularly queer women, as models and active participants in the creative process. Her determination to challenge conventional attitudes towards female sexuality was evident during a 2008 exhibition at the Centre Communautaire St-Alphonse-Rodriguez in Quebec. When organisers demanded that she remove her vulva paintings because children might attend, she turned them towards the wall and attached papers bearing the word "CENSURED" to their backs. The curiosity this provoked among visitors reinforced her belief that the public could be more accepting of such representations than the authorities attempting to suppress them.
Joelle's work has been exhibited in Montreal, San Francisco, Detroit, New York and Birmingham, United Kingdom. In 2013, she participated in the Feminist Art Conference in Toronto, presenting work that reflected her commitment to representing women and challenging misogyny. A 2014 profile in the Quebec LGBTQ+ magazine Fugues highlighted her predominantly realistic paintings and pastels, particularly her attention to light and shadow and her distinctive perspective on the female nude as a transgender woman. Her artistic influences include Artemisia Gentileschi, Camille Claudel, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edgar Degas and Claude Monet. Working primarily with oils, she combines traditional techniques such as underpainting and glazing with more direct applications of paint, using artistic expression to explore the social, political and emotional dimensions of womanhood. Alongside painting, Joelle has shared her personal experiences through her autobiographical book, Breaking Free: 45 Years in the Wrong Body (2020).
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“Danaë”, oil on canvas by Joelle Circé Laramée. Source: Circe's Art Gallery. |
Monika: Hello Joelle, welcome, and thank you for joining me today!
Joelle: Hello Monika, nice to be having this interview.
Monika: Painter, author, feminist and advocate, you are a woman of many talents. How would you introduce yourself?
Joelle: First, I thank you for thinking of me, as I'm now just getting back to creating my art (paintings) and find this an excellent moment to speak out a little. I was born in a lower working-class home and neighborhood in Montreal, Canada, and have always known of my difference, though not necessarily in terms like transsexual or queer, which I came to understand later on in life. My whole world has been one of observing from the outside, and I think this made me become a visual artist.
Monika: Art clearly runs through your whole life. Where did it begin?
Joelle: So, from early on I was pulled towards drawing and painting and pursued this with passion, and I am still painting as I become a senior citizen. I studied fine art at a private art school in Montreal for a number of years in the early 1980s, but it was only after surgery that I truly felt I could express myself as an artist and share what I wanted others to see, and that revolved around the erotic and more specifically around queer women, vulvas and feminism.
Monika: Queer women, vulvas and feminism stand at the center of your art. Why these subjects in particular?
Joelle: Just after my surgeries I was a little apprehensive about the look of my vulva, that maybe it didn't correspond to what vulvas looked like, and so I started a series on vulvas. At first I began promoting the idea that I was in search of vulva pics on MySpace (yes, I'm a dinosaur) and, to my absolute surprise, I got a flurry of images sent to me by women wanting to help. More often than not, though, the images just weren't good enough in terms of resolution and, more importantly, not of my own making.
Monika: Photos from strangers did not quite solve the problem. What was your next step?
Joelle: The next step was for me to reach out to friends in my area. I think I began by sending out a bulk email asking if anyone would pose for me, though at the time I was certain this would not go far... and again I was surprised, as a good number of women friends stepped up to help. At the same time, I was getting more involved in The Vagina Monologues after reading Eve Ensler's book of the same title and seeing the stage play. I began doing workshops and lectures at Montreal universities and tabling with information on trans issues during McGill University's V-Day week, where I met and became friends with a number of young women involved in V-Day events.
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“Peek-a-boo Circe”, oil on canvas by Joelle Circé Laramée. Source: Circe's Art Gallery. |
Monika: With models and V-Day friends by your side, how did the paintings themselves take shape?
Joelle: It was from this point that I was able to draw and paint many a beautiful vulva, some for their esthetics and others for the message I wanted to express, ranging from female genital mutilation to dress-up fun and even a little of the erotic. I realized that I was heads over heels in love with vulvas and, more importantly, with all women. Of course, this led me to other topics involving women, and again it was tied to my personal experiences, and thus came series like Queer women, erotic pieces and feminist concepts.
Monika: A storm of controversy surrounded your vagina series at the 2008 exhibition at the Centre Communautaire St-Alphonse-Rodriguez in Quebec. Was the audience not ready for such art?
Joelle: I think it was mainly the organizers who were not ready, an ex-Catholic priest and an older lady who taught children to paint in watercolors. When they noticed my vulva pieces, they hurried over to me and, with arms close to flailing, told me in no uncertain terms that I just had to take them down, as children would be attending the exhibition and my art bordered on the obscene.
Monika: How did you react when they asked you to take the paintings down?
Joelle: So what I did was take them down, take sheets of paper, write CENSURED and tape the sheets to the back of each vulva painting, and then hang them back up facing the wall. Many people who came in stopped and asked me what was going on, and after I explained, they would ask to view my art. Not a single person, not even the children accompanied by their parents, found my vulva paintings out of place or degenerate. In fact, I received quite a number of positive compliments. I think the public is usually fine seeing art that represents body parts we all have. It's the organizers and authorities who are the problem.
Monika: Tell me, which of your paintings do you like most?
Joelle: How I feel about my art is uneven at best, but I am particularly happy with pieces such as “Smashing Images,” which speak to how we as women must break down the concept that only certain body types are acceptable.
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“Bound in Ecstacy” (private collection), oil on canvas by Joelle Circé Laramée. Source: Circe's Art Gallery. |
Monika: Your models are all so beautiful. How do you find them, and is it a particular physical look that you search for?
Joelle: Thank you, and good question. It's a hit-and-miss process. Usually I ask other queer women friends to pose for me while I do a photoshoot, and then I work from the images, but I have also accepted working from photos provided by women that I found perfect for what I was working towards. Physical look is secondary for me. I tend to search out models who can bring something of themselves, something unique to them. Size, color, etc. are not at the top of my criteria. Some of my models are friends, people I know and love, and they become full participants in my creations.
Monika: The female body has inspired many famous painters over the centuries. Which masters and painting techniques do you favor?
Joelle: As an artist, I have absorbed many different influences and even had a period in which I reproduced paintings by old masters as well as Impressionist painters like Degas and Monet, but for me it is Artemisia Gentileschi, Camille Claudel and other female artists like Georgia O'Keeffe. The techniques I use are from old school painters, mostly basic drawing and oil painting stuff. I do enjoy doing a whole underpainting and then proceeding with glazes, but not always. I now often do more of a direct paint application.
Monika: Your autobiography came out only a couple of months ago. What made you decide to write it?
Joelle: Well, it had been close to five years since I had stopped painting, thinking I had nothing more to say (I was soooo wrong), and my need for artistic expression brought me to take singing lessons. Finally, I just knew I had to write my memoirs, which was something I had been wanting to do for some years. I wanted to share my life with others who might be going through something similar, though I was thinking that it might be too much, because I have been at the lowest point on a few occasions, and I suppose I got lucky because I gave myself a chance at life. I don't wish to be moralistic; I only think it's possible to survive and find a place in the world.
Monika: Revisiting your past could not have been simple. How was the writing process for you?
Joelle: With the help of a collaborator, I got to work on my memoirs. It wasn't easy because of certain things I had to revisit in my mind, but ahead I went and got through it, and I do hope that what I put down can be of help or support to others. By writing my memoirs, I actually came to realize that I miss painting very much, and so I reassembled my studio and am about to embark on my journey as a paintress because I still do have much to share.
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Monika: Being a feminist today can mean many things. What does feminism stand for in your eyes?
Joelle: For me, feminism is all about inclusion, about intersectionality. I am a fan of a great big melting pot of feminism that leaves no one behind and strives for a better world of equity and full rights for all. My feminism places women of trans origin among their sisters, not caught up in castes, identities and cliques. I know that feminism, like many movements and ideologies, isn't perfect, but that's not the point of it. It's about improving the lives of women and everyone, about growing through mistakes and moving through the colored layers of our own personal worldviews to a more expanded and inclusive one.
END OF PART 1
All the photos: courtesy of Joelle Circé Laramée.
© 2020 - Monika Kowalska
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