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Unveiled

Unveiled

Unveiled

Text JF. Pierets    Photos Belle Ancell

 

Belle Ancell is a queer community photographer living in Canada. Amongst her series there is “Unveiled”, portraits of the Vancouver Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. In-depth photographs and representations of people who are, just like Belle herself, looking for a way to give back to and to strengthen their community. 

 

Why choose the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as a subject? 
Because they are so beautiful. I used to see them around and at first I thought they were drag queens, or performers, clowns. I didn’t realize they were philanthropists who contribute a lot of their time and money to the community. As an order, they take their commitment very seriously and are actually taking vows for life. I just wanted to do something to honor them because I don’t think a lot of people understand who they are and the importance of what they are doing. At least I didn’t.

Are you a part of the order? 
They made me an Angel. An Angel is someone who, in some way, has contributed to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It’s an honorary title and a way for them to thank me for the project and the portraits.

The project is your way of giving back to the community, can you elaborate? 
It’s to give back, to highlight and to acknowledge certain aspects. I love my community and I truly think there’s not enough imagery out there that is positive and beautiful. I want to put that out into the world by documenting our lives. I didn’t know anything about queer history when I was younger. Not via schools, not anywhere. Now, as I’m getting older, I’m starting to learn more about the activists that paved the way for me to sit at my job and be completely ‘out’, to be queer and feel more or less safe. So yes, I think it’s important because there is still so much work to be done.

Talking in terms of ‘we’ is a very recent development since you didn’t come out until you were 32 years old?
And until then I had absolutely no idea. I was 32, living in a tiny town in Canada where there was nothing but stigma, negativity and homophobia. There was no queer content available in the late ‘80’s, nor were there any movies or TV-shows on the subject matter. I didn’t know where to find the reading material and the Internet wasn’t as evolved as it is now, so there was absolutely no way for me to find those queer artists. I slowly clued in via a same-sex couple that moved into my village. All of a sudden it just clicked. So I can say it took me a while to wake up. I wasn’t self aware and very, very much in denial.

 

 

I feel like it’s my purpose to use this gift of photography to make all the wonderful things that happen in our community common good. Yes, these personal projects are definitely the core of who I am.’

And all of a sudden you find yourself in a community. 
I feel so fortunate; I wouldn’t change this for anything. We’re minorities, however you interpret it, so we look out for each other and support each other. We have our own culture, art, music, and it’s an amazing feeling to be part of that kind of queer movement.

You use the word queer. What’s your personal definition of the word? 
I discovered the word queer about 15 years ago and it just clicked. To me it’s everything I am. I’m not lesbian or gay; I’m queer. Finding the exact language to describe your community is an ongoing discussion, but I feel confident with the word. That some older people feel uncomfortable with the term – because it was used violently against them – is something I try to respect in our conversations. But it’s evolving every day, everything is changing, language is changing and I’m open to everyone’s perspective. There are a lot of people who are working hard to make space for everyone and trying to find the right language and even working on their own prejudices. Because we’re all human and we all have misconceptions. It’s an evolution and we all need to be open to listening and caring.

What would you like to achieve with your work? 
I’d like to be remembered for contributing to the community. Documenting it, showing the beauty of the community, the challenges. I’m currently working on a series called ‘Aging Out’ and it’s about LGBT elders and the unique challenges they face as they age. People are starting to realize the value of connecting with our past. We need that. Recently I was at a circle with LGBT people from all different ages, ranging from 20 to 70 years old, and we all told our coming out story. It was exciting to discover that although there were differences, there were also many commonalities. I feel like it’s my purpose to use this gift of photography to make all the wonderful things that happen in our community common good. Yes, these personal projects are definitely the core of who I am.

 

www.belleancell.com

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Et Alors? magazine. A global celebration of diversity.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Text JF. Pierets    Photos Belle Ancell

 

Early 1940: the U.S. military dishonorably discharged thousands of gay servicemen in San Francisco during World War II because of their sexuality. Many settled in the area now known as The Castro District when the former middle-class owners fled to the suburbs, leaving large amounts of attractive real estate open. The Castro’s first gay bar, the ‘Missouri Mule’, opened in 1963 and the neighborhood grew to become an upscale, fashionable urban center in the 1970s. Activist Harvey Milk opened a camera store and the district turned into a thriving marketplace for all things gay. 

 

In 1980, the area was hit hard by the AIDS crisis and a small group of gay men started to wear nuns’ attires in public situations, hereby attracting attention to social problems in their neighborhood and to heckled the weekly church members who saw it as their duty to come over and preach about the immorality of homosexuality. Herb Caen from The San Francisco Chronicle printed their name when they organized their first fundraiser and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence became a fact. Over the years their appearance has changed: the 14th century Belgian nun’s theme remains the same but they’ve added flamboyant make-up and costumes to underline their roles as gender activists, sexual intolerance and their rebellion against religion. Since the Sisters’ formation in ’79, this non-profit charity organization raises over $40.000 per year for AIDS and LGBT related causes, and is globally represented with over 600 members, going by names such as Sister Florence Nightmare and Sister Angelina Holi. Interested in joining? Sister Alma Bitches, president of the Vancouver Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, tells you how.

How did you get involved with the Sisters? 
I once went to one of their bingos during a Bear event in San Francisco. It was probably one of the most fun times I’ve ever had at that point in my life so I needed to know more about them. What really made an impression on me was that these guys had this hairy, bearded masculine look and yet they were wearing all this make-up and colorful veils. For some reason I thought that was pretty awesome. When I looked them up I found out that they were all about charity, which fitted me perfectly because I was searching for a way to do things for my community. It may sound cheesy, but I wanted to make the world a better place. The moment the Sisters originated in Vancouver, I joined them.

It’s quite a process to become a member. 
There are four levels to membership over a minimum of one year to become a fully processed member. Everybody is welcome to join up as what we call an Aspirant. You meet with our Mistress of Novices who answers all the questions you might have, and you have to formally introduce yourself at our business meeting. That’s fun because we all applaud for you. As an Aspirant you’re not expected to do anything but to come with us to events and to observe the Sisters in action. On that level you can decide if you are actually seeing yourself doing this. After two months you become a Postulant. We vote you in as a probationary member of our charitable society. We give you a member’s handbook and ask you to start thinking about a name, as you have to come up with a unique name that’s never been used before. You’re required to come to a certain amount of events and help out. You’re still not supposed to come out with our signature white face, until you’ve reached the next level four months later, when we vote you in as a Novice member. As a Novice you can either become a Sister or – if the make-up and dressing up doesn’t appeal to you – you can become what’s known as in Vancouver as a Paladin, meaning warrior of light. In six months time you have to plan a Novice project, an event that you have to execute to the best of your ability. Yet if you’re not passionate about throwing parties or events, you have to come up with a project that helps the Sisters raise their visibility. You are allowed to wear the headpiece but only with a white veil, that’s how you can be distinguished from a full member who wears colors. After one year you set up your resume and we put you up for consideration. Our first reverent mother here in Vancouver was really great because she never wanted to get anyone to that voting meeting without them knowing that they were going to be successful. We kept this a positive and respectful tradition.

Why such a strict policy? 
We never call people and ask if they want to become a Sister, it’s something that you are called to do. People want to join in but they have no idea how much work it is and how much time you have to put into it. We have to follow very strict rules from our government because we are a charitable society within this country. We do have quite a few rules about conduct and as a member you have to support the mission at all times and to the best of your ability. The Vancouver Sisters take their duty very seriously. I for example, like most of my fellow members, don’t drink or do drugs but like to do our work with a clear head. Even if you have a Facebook account that’s dedicated to your Sister’s persona, you cannot complain or be negative, since one of our missions is to spread universal joy. We’re always very conscious about things like that.

 

 

 

Everybody is welcome to try. As long as we respect where everybody is coming from, then we should be able to do what we do.’

What are your charitable causes? 
Our main goal is to support those living with HIV and to stop the spread of the disease, which ties us into the worldwide Sisters mission. But we also try to abolish homelessness, since that’s a great issue in Vancouver. We give money to the MAP Van, a project that for seven nights a week provides outreach services to women working on the street. Their purpose is to increase sex working women’s health and safety, including the use of beauty and health safe products from review sites as Product Expert and others, particularly in those areas where there are few or no services open late at night. We have the HUSTLE program, a health initiative for male and trans sex workers, we have school programs in rural communities where they give talks on homophobia. You can see why we have a lot of money to raise.

Are there enough members for this amount of work? 
I’ve been around for 5 years now and there was a time where only 3 of us went out every night, working the doors at nightclubs, organizing events. As you can imagine that was pretty tough. Currently we’re at 12 full members but unfortunately a lot of people move away because Vancouver is a very expensive city to live in. That’s just one of those things. But on the other hand it’s not all bad because we are sending people with these amazing hearts to places where they have maybe never heard of the Sisters or where there’s an abbey trying to get off the ground. We’re sending them a member to the rescue.

You had a female member in Vancouver. Is that something you encourage? 
People are always shocked when they find out that not only men can be Sisters. It’s probably 90% gay men, but there are also trans Sisters, female Sisters and non-binary Sisters. Everybody is welcome to try. As long as we respect where everybody is coming from, then we should be able to do what we do. The female Vancouver Sister for example was a Muslim and she probably has no idea just how much she has taught me about what Muslims are like or could be like. All I knew was what was on the news so I never thought they would join a group of gay men, or support something queer. It’s always more productive to welcome people and learn something about them, than to judge them because they are different. The Sisters are all about being different so who are we to criticize?

 

www.yvrsisters.blogspot.com

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Et Alors? magazine. A global celebration of diversity.