[spectre] Public Statement from The Rubber Rose regarding the exhibit of XX Boys by Kael T. Block

[lotu5]

Hi, sorry for sending three emails on this topic, which you may have no 
intrest in, but it is important to me to send the official statement 
from the Rubber Rose as well as correction to my previous email...

This statement was published on The Rubber Rose’s myspace page
[ http://myspace.com/therubberrose ] last night

///

November is an important month for us, both personally and politically. 
In order to further the awareness of November 20th, Transgender Day of 
Remembrance, we showcase an artist or art that highlights the issues of 
gender and gender identity. This year we chose “XXBoys” by Kael T. 
Block, a photo project celebrating the vibrant and growing international 
f2m community. We worked very hard to bring in his work and were excited 
to have it hang in our gallery in order to honor a community that we 
know and love, to bring the pride, beauty, strength and diversity of the 
f2m community to a larger audience.

On Saturday, November 10th, on the day of our opening, it came to our 
attention that Kael T. Block has been accused of rape, that multiple 
women have spoken up and shared their stories about surviving. We 
received a heartfelt phone call from San Francisco, were mailed a long 
list of testimonials and email exchanges detailing their experiences. 
This caller, along with members of the San Diego community, questioned 
our intent, our knowledge, and even our politics on this matter.

And our hearts were broken. Torn between showing you the work and its 
historical significance, and supporting our hurting/healing community, 
we chose to go ahead with the opening - almost as planned. In light of 
the new information, we felt it necessary to display the statements we 
received, those of the survivors, those of Block’s, and a statement of 
our very own presenting the confusion and uncertainty we felt in the 
moment. We posted all of this next to the artist’s bio in order to give 
all who viewed the exhibit full disclosure.

It has now been 5 days since that decision… and in that time we hope 
that the portraits have been viewed and enjoyed simply for the sake of 
those brave enough to step in front of the camera, regardless of who 
might have been on the other side…

And yet we still have the question of accountability.

Regardless of how much information we do or don’t have, we recognize 
above all else that we are accountable to the community we are connected 
to. The accusations surrounding Kael T. Block directly conflict with our 
mission statement and our wish to create a safe space for sexual 
empowerment.

We have decided to take the exhibit down before its scheduled closing of 
November 30th.

It has not been an easy decision to make.

However, in the midst of this struggle, something beautiful and tangible 
has grown. The shock of the information shared during the exhibition’s 
opening night inspired some of our f2m friends and customers to see each 
other and celebrate each other as heroes, rather than placing public 
strangers like Kael on pedestals.

As we remove the work of Kael T Block we will be replacing it with 
portraits of the f2m community here in San Diego, taken in this space 
within the next few days.

In closing, we would like to thank Kael T. Block for his photographs and 
the “XXBoys” project- the pieces we received are beautiful and we 
recognize that this is an important project to undertake.

We would like to thank those that spoke out on the issues surrounding 
these allegations, as it took courage and strength.

We would like to thank the people here in San Diego that have given us 
the support and encouragement to make the tough decisions we have had to 
make in the past few days.

And finally, we would like to invite you to join us for Twister, a trans 
social/mixer celebrating the diversity of southern California’s f2m 
community on Friday, November 30th. It will also be opening night for 
this new project where you will find a representation of our local f2m 
trans guys and the significance of a community united.

With love and respect,
Lea and Carly
The Rubber Rose

If anyone is interested in participating by being photographed or by 
taking the photos themselves, please email therubberrose (at) hotmail 
(dot) com.

///


Also, I want to make a note of clarification. My previous blog post 
stated that the caller to the Rubber Rose was one of the survivors, but 
I have since been corrected. I did not receive the call, the Rubber Rose 
did. The caller was anonymous and did not claim to be one of the 
survivors. I have no idea who the caller was.

I am no longer working with the Rubber Rose [ http://therubberrose.com ] 
in any “official” capacity, so please direct any further comments or 
questions on this matter to them.


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