A personal narrative
The journey of
understanding myself as a man in the 21st century with the freedoms
I and others take for granted, without attempting to understand those that have
gone before and the sacrifices they have made is one of the greatest
misfortunes. Coming from a generation where “mentorship” for lack of a better
word does not exist and with most of the knowledge of gay history being written
from a Eurocentic or American perspective. Being LGBT, there is no central
repository of knowledge that one can call on to gain understanding of LGBT
history that by enlarge has been outside of the heteronormative gaze. Being
considered the deviant or fugitive as LGBT goes against the heteronorm and thus
could not find acceptance. A full documented ancient history is therefore
impossible. Queer theory is complicated to delineate, but its main concern is
to combat against heteronormativity. Though homosexualism is widely accepted in
society today there is still a lack of understanding.
Purpose statement
Welcome to Reon Davids precious metal weaving page.
The purpose of this research is to establish
the relevance and current knowledge of past signs and symbols used during WWII
to persecute homosexuals (1933-1945) in Nazi Germany, there is not only the
pink triangle which was used as a sign to shame homosexuals. The intention is
to claim other signs and symbols as cipher of pride much as the inverted pink
triangle was claimed by the gay community. “For a gay ‘language’ to evolve, a
community would normally need to be isolated from society for a lengthy period
of time” (Cage 1999:22). The purpose here is not to establish a new language
but to use symbols of the past in a new way of visual communication by the
wearer of the jewellery to be created. Allowing the viewer insight into wearer’s
possible preferences for example as displayed in figure 2.
Creating this range
of jewellery that incorporates an assortment of symbols that speaks a language
of its own, aimed at the gay market. While remaining mindful of the stigma
attached to such symbols as in Figure 1 which is a table of coloured
classification symbols for prisoners in concentration camps during WWII.
This is by no means a
way to keep LGBT people closeted but finding another way of expression. Lomas,
McNeill and Gray (cited by Steele 2013:23) states that, “…gay and lesbians have
evolved not only coded clothing practises
by which they might recognize others with a similar sexual orientation or
interest, but also a nuanced vocabulary for reading
dress.” Lomas, McNeill and Gray does not appear in the course list, only
Steele. Jewellery with symbols subtly imbedded into them that only is
understood by the wearer and others of their persuasion.
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| Figure 1 Table of colored classification symbols for prisoners in concentration camps during WWII |
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| Figure 2 Showing how wearing pieces of jewellery and clothing strategically could carry meaning. ( Lord & Meyer 2013:27) |
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| Stonewall in riots |
