Monika: Do the colors of the flag have any symbolic meaning?
Margaux: The colors pink and blue are universally idiomatic of the
masculine/feminine dichotomy while white and grey are neutral and transcendent.
Aside, from some variations of bidirectional transitions from one to the other; it's fairly
universal and inevitable. Other than the fact that there is no real specification of the
flag, there’s been a lot of ad hoc improvisation and folklore surrounding its
implementation.
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| (Left) - Transgender Day of Remembrance at the Arizona State Capitol 2008 L to R Margaux Ayn Schaffer, Representative, Kyrsten Sinema, Rebecca Allison, M. (Right) - Representing Arizona TDOR at PRIDE 2008. |
Margaux: Well, I’ve once repeated the quote that rising tides raise all ships, I’d be
remiss to ignore the obvious arguments over identity politics and a number of other
issues that sometimes put our diverse communities at odds. For the most part, we’ve
come a long way.
As for my own views, I’m big on education. “Stop the hate. Educate”
has been my creed for some years. Unfortunately, with cable, satellite, and other media
delivery models, there’s an insatiable need for infotainment, yes, we now have “reality
television” which some might dispute as being neither, but I believe in choice, there’s
many ways to change hearts and minds; it takes all shapes and sizes, races, ages and
socioeconomic perspectives to reach people and be the change we want to see in the
world. There’s still a great deal of work that needs to be done.
Monika: You are an artist. How would you define your art?
Margaux: Hopefully without boundaries. That’s really what art is about is pushing
boundaries. By training, I’m a designer and art director, so I had a foundation of
drawing, painting, typography, photography, printmaking while being lucky enough
to intern at Genigraphics Corporation which gave me a head start in computer
graphics. So my roots have always been in art and technology which informs my work
on several levels.
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| An article on Transgender Art in JAVA MAG. |
Monika: Is there anything like transgender art?
Margaux: Yes! Themes aside, where there's a transgender artist, there's transgender art. Beyond mere authorship and visibility, art activism and culture jamming can tap directly into the zeitgeist and quickly affect social change. Street artists like Banksy and what I did under the meme moniker in the 90s and early 2000s a currently under Vangaux is a continuation of that visual language.
Philanthropy is another area I feel strongly about, art in service to activism can be purely message-based or it can be synergy between your brand and a specific issue, event, or one-off cause such as auctions and mural projects.
I've had a long history of donating my skills not just to Trans, but to LGBTQ and broader social justice pursuits, be it pro bono design or donating art: I try to elevate the aesthetic and make art my own form of charity and intellectual capital.
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| Exploring Meteor Crater, Flagstaff Arizona 2015. |
Monika: At that time of your transition, did you have any transgender
role models that you followed?
Margaux: Having grown up when I did, there were not as many as today, but the
social isolation I experienced motivated me further to reach out and find my own
answers and seek out my own personal heroes.
Women like Christine Jorgensen
obviously come to mind, more personally Canary Conn, Wendy Carlos, and Caroline Cossey were sources of validation and inspiration.
Monika: Are there any transgender ladies that you admire and respect
now?
Margaux: Now that’s a much larger list! For starters, I’d say, Andrea James,
Calpernia Addams, Laverne Cox, Becky Allison, Lynn Conway,
Lana Wachowski, and once again;
Caroline Cossey!
Monika: What was the hardest thing about your coming out?
Margaux: Time and place. Some people say coming out at a bad time or too late. I often tell people coming out isn’t as hard as NOT coming out. Social isolation and self-denial are living death. It can be quite personal and quite ugly given it's a highly disruptive rite of passage. What is your own salvation turns out to be at odds with friends, family, employers, and not to mention every stranger you may come in contact with.
I was humiliated at my place of employment when someone (my boss's father) called me a creature in front of everybody, I had had enough; after that, I was not in the mood for anything except to rescue my dignity and clear out my office. That's when I started being a self-employed contractor. Even when people are supportive it's usually fraught with misgendering at the least or at worst violence out in the world.
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| (Left) - Posing with my donated art at fundraising gala 2006. (Right) Haters gonna hate: vandalism of my work at a 2015 art show. |
Monika: The transgender cause is usually manifested together with the other LGBTQ communities. Being the penultimate letter in this abbreviation, is the transgender community able to promote its own cause within the LGBTQ group?
Margaux: Transgender activism exists anywhere a transgender person is standing.
Sometimes it's best to work within existing organizations and sometimes it's better to create your own; it might take many forms ranging from a blog, webpage, a vigil, or other one-off event or doing something larger in scope.
It's also about forming liaisons and constructively engaging with allies and adversaries; sometimes you have to partner with others and create synergies with organizations like GLMA and HRC. We have many LGB friends who want to help us with transgender rights. They may not understand us completely, but most are willing to learn. Together we can achieve goals that might be unreachable with transgender resources alone.
Margaux: Politics is unavoidable, you can avoid politics, but it usually doesn’t avoid you. People need to be politically aware, if not politically active; at least enough to know existential threats when we see them. Some years back, I caught a lot of flack over saying, Transsexual is not a dirty word. Taxonomies and vernaculars aside, we are all at our best when we stand together united.
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| John Albaza Fashion show at the Phoenix Art Museum, V.I.P.(!) |
There are several levels we can become engaged, firstly by keeping one and another in the loop; having each-others backs is essential with shifting political challenges. There's something each person is uniquely qualified to contribute, we can't all go to Washington or the U.N., and today with the World Wide Web and more recently, social media: we can use our diverse talents and skillsets to think globally and act locally.
Monika: Do you like fashion? What kind of outfits do you usually wear?
Any special fashion designs, colors, or trends?
Margaux: I guess I'm a Bebe and Chico's girl, but I've also got a purse addiction; Brahmin, Chanel, Coach, Fendi, even Hello Kitty. I can't help but treat some of this stuff as art objects (challenge shoes come to mind) much of it I may wear once or on a special occasion or just display it; fashion is functional art!
Monika: What do you think about transgender beauty pageants?
Margaux: I’m for anything that glorifies women regardless of cisgender or
transgender labeling.
Monika: Many transgender ladies write their memoirs. Have you ever
thought about writing such a book yourself?
Margaux: I’m a work in progress, but the idea has crossed my mind. It's on the list. I think it's important to have varied narratives because not everybody has the same circumstances, so many people are often discouraged by narratives that are outside of their own experiences which they're unable to identify with.
For myself, being able to connect with the shared experiences of others was quite validating during a time of profound isolation. All too often one can be discouraged when they can't identify with other people's histories; yet, had they been able to learn of someone else's similar age, social, or career circumstances, they would feel as if they were in this together. When I was starting the transition, most transsexual narratives followed a formulaic approach that had become the industry standard. More recently, the phenomenon of self-publishing has led to more diversity in sharing our histories online and in print.
I’ve realized that there are so many transition narratives that vary according to a person’s unique qualities, and I think I have quite a few experiences that make my life interesting. We’ll see…
Monika: Could you tell me about the importance of love in your life?
Margaux: Love conquers all. Without love in our lives, where would any of us be? People, animals all need love. I've dated over the years, I've even broken off marriage proposals. One thing I've been proud of [more often than not] has been reconciliation and continuity in old relationships; life's too short to burn bridges and darken your heart.
Love in all its forms manifests in many ways, for some, it's about family; in my own case, I've remained close to my aunt (mom's twin sister) and my cousins while not having the best relations with my father's family. Biology is not destiny, so I sought to build my own extended family (you all know who you are), I'm in a good place now.
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| Art plus Margaux, Boyce Gallery. |
Monika: Are you working on any new projects now?
Margaux: Presently, I’ve been working on launching a t-shirt company and building
my own brands. I’ve been doing large format digital printing as my primary medium
in environmental art.
For some time, I went under a number of creative aliases, I’m
the hacker/street artist formerly known as MEME, and my friends call me Vangaux
with an X (lol). I’ve got several irons in the fire right now, having built a large
modular synthesizer, I’m working on a music project called CHAOS MESSIAH.
As for activism, I really don't distinguish that much because it's ongoing, I've never looked at anything as having an end, it's always been the journey as much as the destination and whether it's mentoring, public speaking, or working on a documentary; it's all part of a continuum.
Monika: What would you recommend to all transgender girls struggling
with gender dysphoria?
Margaux: I think what I would offer is that we’re all unique and deserving of the life
we want to live regardless of limitations that others may wish to impose on us.
The most important thing of all is to know your value and recognize we can't always choose our circumstances, but we CAN choose our support network; if you're rejected by family there's the need for creating an extended family of peers and allies.
Monika: My pen friend Gina Grahame wrote to me once that we should not
limit our potential because of how we were born or by what we see other
transsexuals and transgender people doing. Our dreams should not end on
an operating table; that’s where they begin. Do you agree with this?
Margaux: Agreed. We are all the architects of our own destiny. There’s so much more
to our lives.
Monika: Margaux, thank you for the interview!
For more information about Margaux, follow her on Twitter.
All the photos: courtesy of Margaux Ayn Schaffer.
© 2017 - Monika Kowalska
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