So It Starts.

This is me. I am a No-Good, Free Thinking, Dangerous Kid. I say what's on my mind, and my mind wants to tick a few people off in the hopes of becoming a catalyst to change. F34R ME.




Here are some of the things that influenced my recent project:

1) I got my lip pierced. When I showed my mom (who has been subject to these things before), she said "Ally you are an adult now. You're quirky, it's cute. Your body is your canvas." Alright, she didn't say EXACTLY that, but that's it in a nutshell.

2) My friend Angelica showed me a trailer to a movie called Modify!, a documentary about people who decorate their body like a work of art, but sometimes in ways that society doesn't deem 'normal.'

3) New York State shooting down the equal marriage bill on December 2, 2009.

4) And image that my same friend posted up on her facebook. A couple with duct tape over their mouths and NO H8 written on their cheeks. As an artist, it intrigued me, so I did a little google searching, and what I found was nothing short of amazing.

www.noh8campaign.com

That. Right there. A project that was started in response to Prop 8 in California, now their mission statement is to raise awareness that discrimination and withholding rights to ANY group of people his hurtful and WRONG.

I first started by making my own NOH8 image. It wasn't the same as the site, but something eccentric and artistic for my facebook page. But that wasn't enough, I wanted more.

Hyped up on caffeine, adrenalin, and creativity, I wrote the following note in my facebook notes:

"I don't know if its because I'm an artist, or a rebellious young adult, but I believe that my body is a canvas (as can be seen with my tattoos and piercings). However, it can also be a slate, a billboard, a walking message. Girls (and some guys), most of you generally put on makeup everyday don't you? And at night you wash it off to go to bed.

I've decided to add one more bit of paint to my canvas everyday.

But let me back up for a second.

I was first inspired by my friend Angelica's link to this movie trailer called Modify! which talks about people using their bodies as a canvas, and how sometimes society doesn't see it as acceptable, etc, etc. That's where I get my first statement. But then I was brought to the attention of noh8campaign.com. It started following California's ban of gay marriage (hence the 8). There are a bunch of pictures of people: Californians, normal people, celebrities, couples, children...but they all have the same element. Duct tape across their mouths, and NO H8 written on their cheeks. It's beautiful, simple and clean. And silent, but at the same time it is screaming.

Every day until things change here in NY, I am going to write NO H8 somewhere visible on my body.

A bit of make up if you will, a decoration. And if someone asks why I look so crazy (or..crazier than usual), I'm going to explain to them why. Why something needs to be done. And maybe, it might stick in their head like a little barb, fun but at the same time meaningful. And maybe, just maybe someday they will decide, for just one day, to write it on themselves. And then it grows. And grows until there is a mass of voices silently screaming 'Hey! Senate! THINK AGAIN!!' because right now there are so many voices right now not being heard. Gays and straights alike. And maybe all we need is a visual ice breaker to take the whole thing down.

Now, I'm not gay. So you may ask: "Ally, of ALL the activism in the world, why this? It doesn't even pertain to you!"

In a way, it does. because it all boils down to equality and tolerance. I'm not gay, but I have friends who are, and I want to see them happy just as much as my so-called 'normal' friends. Why can't they walk down the aisle and experience the milestone we cherish in adulthood? Because it IS a milestone. get out of school, get a job, settle down, get a house, get married, have kids, grow old, retire. Who are we to tell someone they can't do that!?

And the thing is, it is so easy to flip the coin around. Say it wasn't gays who weren't allowed to marry. Say it was people who are left handed, or have blue eyes. Blue is a recessive gene, recessive can mean inferior. We don't want INFERIOR people getting married do we? They might, you know, be HAPPY. And, oh God, WHAT IF THEY REPRODUCE!? And left handed people, psh, what freaks. I mean, they just CHOOSE to be left handed, why can't they just, you know, decide to just be right handed like the rest of us? WHY do they have to be different? That's just weird, unnatural. ITS A SIN.

Take those sentences, and replace the words with gay. Do you get the picture?

That is why I'm doing this. Because everyone has the right to be happy.

I mean hey, it works for TWLOHA...why can't it work for equality?

That's my 2 cents."

So that's it. That's my goal, my own personal project. I've decided to document my journey with images and blogging so that other people can witness what I'm trying to do and hopefully (as is my goal) join in. I would like to ask of those who see me walking with the NOH8 branded in beautiful sharpie marker on my skin, to consider doing the same, if only for one day.

We have a voice, New York. America. LET'S USE IT.

-Ally