FREYA Desmarais was “absolutely terrified” of going to her first Out in the Square fair in 2008, because she’d only just realised she was gay.
“I went with a bunch of straight guy friends who were really supportive, and an old dyke gave me a figurine from my favourite cartoon Reboot for free,” Desmarais laughs. “I’ve still got it, it’s great.”
The 21-year old had no idea she was lesbian until she suddenly fell in love with a girl.
“I hadn’t thought about it, and I was quite religious before that where there wasn’t room for gay people,” she says. “It was fine coming out to my friends, but it was more nerve-wracking coming out to my parents. They were fine with it – I was more upset than they were.”
The theatre, film and gender studies student is interested in the construction of gender, and doesn’t identify with any gender in particular.
“I don’t know why in this world we have to define ourselves so much by that,” she says.
Also a watercolour painter in her spare time, Desmarais has put two and two together and paints beautiful images of androgynous looking people.
“I find a picture of a male model, and get that body shape with the broad shoulders, and feminise it,” she says. “I’m gay, so I guess people would say I dress like a lesbian, but I might wake up one morning and feel masculine and dress like that, or I might wake-up feeling feminine and wear a headband.”
Desmarais’s work will be displayed at Thistle Gallery’s Under the Rainbow exhibition, which aims to show gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (GLBT) life through art.
The exhibition is a fundraiser for Out in the Square and other GLBT events organised through Out Wellington. Every piece in the show is up for auction.
Out Wellingon’s co-chair Andy Boreham encourages everyone to come along.
“We have around 15 different artists confirmed, ranging from professionals, to amateurs, to politicians,” he says. “Labour MPs Grant Robertson and Charles Chauvel have donated their time to producing artworks for the exhibition and we also have respected Wellington gay photographers Gareth Watkins and David Hindley exhibiting some of their works.”
Desmarais says events like Under the Rainbow are important to give exposure to the GLBT community.
“There’s not [mainstream] queer theatre or queer films,” she says. “I like the concept that instead of saying ‘Freya, do you have a boyfriend?’ people just say ‘do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?’”
Under the Rainbow, Thistle Gallery, 12-17 April.