Delboy

Del’s recent monographs

Del has contributed works to many publications including

Del studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and holds an MA. (Photographic Studies) from Derby University.

I am a gender variant visual artist. In a previous incarnation I was known as Della Grace, lesbian photographer. That lasted nearly twenty years and was a handle I was proud to grip. I kept pushing the parameters of what a lesbian could be (was permitted to be) until I broke through the cell wall and swam free into 'the sea, the sea of possibilities' (Patty Smith, "Horses", an early influence)

What you need to understand about me is that I am a mutant and I always have been. I'm not the only one but lets face it, most people prefer stability, especially when it comes to gender. The binary imperative demands we make a definitive choice. One sex one body. Male or Female. Homo or Hetero. Yin and Yang. Its a given, or rather its what we've been given. In some ways its the last bastion of civilization as we know it. One of the few titanics left to us at millenniums edge.

As I said I am gender variant, which is another way of saying transgender. Specifically i have moved from a female location to a male location along the binary spectrum that is unfortunately very much in place at the time of writing. FROM THE SIDE ONLY. For reasons of personal safety. I'm sure you understand. Tranny bashers and queer bashers have a lot in common. amongst friends, which I hope I am here, I am specifically something else, an intentional mutation of male and female, an emulation of incorporation that equals what, for lack of a better term, I call 'intersexual by design'. In other words i choose to be as I am now.

The knowledge that I willingly bought a one-way ticket to 'no man's land', to inhabit a 'nether world' of my own making, to be both [male and female] and neither [female nor male] can be hard for the mono-gendered who see me (and those like me) as monstrosities. You probably aren't aware that there are at least as many people born with an intersex condition (of one form or another and there are many forms) as there are fraternal twins. But the shame and stigma attached to being intersexed cause the majority of us to remain silent and invisible. Not an option in my case. The work I create is intended as an 'in-your-face' antidote for this form of global ignorance.