I Was a 20th Century Lesbian > 1: The Curse

moku hanga woodblock print: ruby slippers with some rubber stamp dialog from the Wizard of Oz
LORD HAVE MERCY
Woodblock print and rubber stamping
14.5" x 20.5" (37 x 52.4 cm)

The movie The Wizard of Oz has stereotypically been associated with gay culture. This may be because the film can serve as an apt allegory for the coming out experience: knowing that you're different in some way and, upon acceptance of that difference, entering a new world. The tale of an isolated adolescent from a dreary place in the middle of nowhere being transported to a land where everything is brightly colored and friendly and fabulous is a perfect metaphor for the story of many rural homosexuals who have migrated to large urban centers. And in another metaphor easily understood by gays, the scarecrow, tin man, and lion (played in high camp style by actor Bert Lahr) are misfits who join with Dorothy to form a family, with all four of these characters loving each other into the discovery that what they were looking for was already inside them.

10.25" x 17" (26 x 43 cm) image size
made with 3 shina plywood blocks
9 hand-rubbed color layers
Nishinouchi paper
Edition: 12