Angie Stardust
From Club 82 to Crazy Boys to Angie’s Nightclub: Angie Stardust was a soul singer, actress, stage star and committed to other trans people. Photographs, collages and other materials provide insight into the stages of her life.
Portraits of a Lad*y
Pioneers of the trans* community: The materials gathered here show snapshots from five people’s lives – sometimes tender and personal, sometimes filtered through the pathologizing and sensationalist gaze of 20th century publics. From the Lili Elbe Archive in Berlin, its founder Niki Trauthwein has compiled a selection of newspaper articles with handwritten notes, historical press photos and private snapshots.
The Lili Elbe Archive was founded as an independent institution for the transmission and communication of the history of inter*, trans*, genderqueer and non-binary people. The collections include books, photos, videos, interviews with contemporary witnesses and other contemporary historical documents before and after 1945.
The examination of materials from the archive are also the starting point for Eliza Steinbock’s essay t4t: Archival Legacies of Trans for Trans Adoration, which appeared in 2021 in the volume Re_Visioning Bodies, from the HKW publication series Das Neue Alphabet.
Overview
April Ashley
Trailblazer against her will? Insights into the life of April Ashley, who was outed as transgender by a well-known newspaper and became known as one of the first British trans people to have gender reassignment surgery.
Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons
Race and gender: Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons was a successful English author and biographer. Simmons married her Black husband after gender reassignment surgery, creating the first legal “interracial” marriage in South Carolina.
Gert Christian Südel
Networking and community work: Gert Christian Südel was a pioneer of trans activism. The archival material includes drawings and photographs and tells the story of his magazine and association.
Vittorio Alvaro
Private insights: Vittorio Alvaro, who led a life outside the media spotlight, was allegedly the first trans man in Italy. He underwent gender reassignment surgery in Sicily after World War II.
