Portraits d'illustres butchs

by Eloisa Aquino

Portraits d'illustres butchs paraît d'abord sous le titre The life and Times of Butch Dykes. Il s'agit d'une série de douze fanzines conçus par Eloisa Aquino publiés entre les années 2009 et 2016.

Ils sont inspirants, attachants, mais aussi plein d'humour, les protagonistes dont Eloisa Aquino a choisi de faire le portrait : Audre Lorde, Gertrude Stein. Gloria Anzaldúa, Claude Cahun, Jenny Shimizu, JD Samson, etc.

Une trentaine en tout. On n'en connait pas plusieurs, mais on s'empresse de taper leurs noms sur Google. Uls nous séduisent, nous bousculent, nous inspire, surtout, par leur courage, leurs audaces et leur créativité. Leurs regards vifs nous happent, nous hantent. En nous, résonnent leurs noms, en pleine nuit, en plein jour. Alors on les garde à portée de main les zines d'Aquino : sur le coin d'une table près du bain. Et on en voudrait plus ! À quand la prochaine série ?

Traduit de l'anglais par Nesrine Bessaih

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, LGBT, Graphic Novels, History, Lesbian, Graphic Novels Comics

134 pages

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how diverse this collection is–not only in terms of gender and sexuality, but also race and nationality. Eloisa Aquino is Brazilian-Canadian, and she features butches from all over the world (and across time). Each gets a short biography, which often has very little to do with gender or sexuality. Instead of acting as a 101 on who and what a butch dyke is, this collection offers beacons of people throughout history and around the world who have lived their authentic lives, which inherently encourages the readers to live their own.

This is a great little coffee table book, and I think it would make a perfect gift for fans of butch dykes, gender nonconforming, queer history, or zines!

Full review at the Lesbrary.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. This was so much fun. I loved the color scheme and the artwork. I am an absolute sucker for anything that has to do with lesbian history and this was a great read about some trailblazing masc presenting sapphics throughout time. Loved it and would highly recommend it. I’m so glad that I randomly came across this on Hoopla.

[Dax · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tons of great stuff in here but the authors stance for folks who identify as bisexual and/or pansexual as being an evasive tactic is disgusting and bigoted and tainted my appreciation of the whole work.

[Chloe Martin]

hell yeah

[Aliki (semi hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it didn't start with biphobia, otherwise it would have been perfect

[Edie Kestenbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more like 2.5.

Pros: excellent art, introduced me to some new figures, not super U.S. centric.
Cons: sometimes scant info and out of context quotes, some postmodernism I don’t agree with, and where is Leslie Feinberg?? I mean I know you can’t include everyone but Leslie Feinberg is...big.

[Sol Barbosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro que eu destinaria às e aos mais jovens (mas que agrada também aos adultos). É a descoberta de nomes e vidas que depois se deverão explorar melhor. Uma agradável forma de iniciação a uma herstory LGBT.

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

HAPPY BUTCHDYKE SUMMER. Would be great if this book actually looked at uhhh butchdykes and not just masc lesbians. Anyways

[Delfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cried, clapped, cheered, hollered, etc like this was my IV!!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recueil de plusieurs fanzines biographiques de personnes plus ou moins célèbres, Portrait d'illustres butchs m'a enchantée aussi bien par son ton léger et amusant que par son côté militant et instructif.

J'ai été ravie d'y retrouver Chavela Vargas, chère à mon coeur et ai également beaucoup apprécié le chapitre sur les chanteuses brésiliennes dont je ne connaissais rien.

Et bien sûr, mention très bien pour les illustrations qui font une bonne part du sel de ce livre.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I backed this from a Kickstarter in 2018 or 2019, thinking it was interesting. It's about women who don't fit the typical mold of feminine, pretty women, and the affect they had on culture and history. It's an art book, like others I've read, and the art is neat. I really enjoyed it.
It's a quick, easy read, with lots of women that I've either never heard of, or only heard of in passing. So I really enjoyed reading it.

[Olwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the dreamiest love letter to the coolest butches. I wish this book had gone on forever and covered all of em

[Caitlin Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. Our system gave it a graphic novel sticker but I don't think that's quite accurate. It's not INACCURATE, but still. It's absolutely a collection of zines.

That being said, the zine format is perfect for this. 90% of the featured people are completely new to me. I read this thing in one sitting and sent a million pictures of spreads to my partner.

[Kristin Pistel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was really neat and unique. Love the art. I do think it’s a little too redacting of some of the women’s stories. I thought it very weird and annoying that the section on Judith Butler didn’t even mention her theory that gender is a social construct and she believed in its abolition. Because I personally loved that theory when I read it in my Feminist Theory class years ago.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice overview of impressions of influential people! I liked the combinations of quotes, facts and drawings. 
I do wonder why coming out as bi or pan was considered in a slightly negative light, as if it is 'half' coming out as lesbian? I don't want to assume biphobia, maybe there was just a lack of context? 

[Elbrackeen Brackeen]

pw 9/2/19

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the many-gendered butch dyke mothers of my heart.

[Mills College Library]

306.7663 A657 2019

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic illustrations paired with quick snapshots of biographies.

[Izabella Britten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good! Incredibly educational! I learned about so many WLW that I never knew existed. I owe my freedom to these women!

[Micha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the art and portraits!

[Hannah Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried tears of grief that I didn’t know who these people were, never having seen their art nor knowing what they brought to the world.

[Ny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library. Pretty informative and great visuals, but I thought it was going to go more in depth about these butches.

[Caitlyn Fank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love gay people and history <3

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Ethan Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are, truly, the dykes to watch out for.

Like an introduction to an introduction to some of these very important figures (I didn’t know it was a zine compendium before I started reading it), but the emphasis on BIPOC and revolutionaries underrepresented in the historical pantheon - mixed with some buzzy, lovely art - makes this the perfect gift for a young queer person.

Loved Rose Troche’s inclusion, by the way! I sat next to her at a BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS screening once. Thrilling.

[Elaine Ker · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'aime beaucoup le concept mais j'aurais aimé que les portraits soient plus détaillés : j'en sais finalement très peu sur toutes ces personnes.
En revanche, le trait et les citations sont percutantes, et il y en a plusieurs que j'ai notées parce que je les adore. En voici une :
« S'occuper de soi n'est pas de la complaisance, c'est de la conservation et c'est un acte de guérilla politique. »


Résumé :
Il s'agit d'une série de douze fanzines conçus par Eloisa Aquino publiés entre les années 2009 et 2016.
Ils sont inspirants, attachants, mais aussi plein d'humour, les protagonistes dont Eloisa Aquino a choisi de faire le portrait : Audre Lorde, Gertrude Stein. Gloria Anzaldúa, Claude Cahun, Jenny Shimizu, JD Samson, etc.
Une trentaine en tout. On n'en connait pas plusieurs, mais on s'empresse de taper leurs noms sur Google. Uls nous séduisent, nous bousculent, nous inspire, surtout, par leur courage, leurs audaces et leur créativité. Leurs regards vifs nous happent, nous hantent. En nous, résonnent leurs noms, en pleine nuit, en plein jour. Alors on les garde à portée de main les zines d'Aquino : sur le coin d'une table près du bain. Et on en voudrait plus ! À quand la prochaine série ?