Interviews 9

Interviews 9. […And modelling.] (1’20”)

 

[Text:] [Meira:] You modelled with Tyson [Beckford], and you were in an Absolut Vodka ad.

Yeah, with Tyson; that was for OneWorld magazine. We were modelling clothing by Epperson, and I think that was the last gig that Tyson did for free; you wouldn’t catch him doing that now!
(See video here.)

[Julie:] How would you define the fact that you are attractive in your life—d’you feel it’s affected how your life has gone?

Physically attractive? For one thing, it’s actually enabled me to get an H1B visa, a model’s visa. I’m not a real model—too short, too skinny, too feminine, so slightly too unusual for the industry, ’cos the industry’s very normative, as we know. This has at least enabled me to get some sort of portfolio together that enabled me to bamboozle the immigration authorities! It tends to be “Downtown”, trendy sort of hip magazine-type scenarios rather than well-paying catalogue work or whatever. But I enjoy inhabiting an alternative aesthetic, absolutely. It’s almost as if occupying that niche is an automatic sort of effortless “Up yours” sign that you can give to anybody who might need to receive it.

 

(This video is also on Vimeo and YouTube.)