Singer Boy George has opened his first ever photography exhibition, which is part of the Homotopia Festival in Liverpool. His photos include portraits of friends like Steve Strange (pictured), who he first met at the legendary new romantic Blitz club in the late 1970s. He is showing his photos alongside paintings by artist and collaborator Mark Wardel, who goes by the name TradeMark.
For Freya Punk, Boy George transformed a friend's 15-year-old daughter into a geisha. The image was influenced by the cover of the 1974 album Kimono My House by Sparks. "All of the images are related to records and bands in the '70s and '80s and things that have stuck in my head," George said.
Boy George and TradeMark created the character NoMoney Campbell, a tongue-in-cheek answer to model Naomi Campbell. "She tweeted that she liked the picture," George said. "Mark put a picture up of his painting. Naomi’s got a great sense of humour so she’d appreciate it."
Boy George took this photo of actress Sadie Frost dressed as Madonna for a Hepatitis C charity campaign. "I’ve been taking photos for years," George said. "I’ve always carried a camera with me. Originally it was just a hobby. But professionally, if you want to call it that, I’ve been doing it for five or six years."
The exhibition is one of the highlights of the 10th edition of the gay culture festival Homotopia. To mark the occasion, Boy George has also photographed April Ashley, one of the first people in the world to undergo gender reassignment surgery, who is the subject of her own exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool.
TradeMark met Boy George in the Blitz club in the late 1970s before the singer found fame with Culture Club. TradeMark now creates paintings that play with real photographs and popular icons. This painting, titled Anti-Social, is based on a photo of TradeMark himself (centre) with cross-dressing 80s pop star Marilyn (right).
TradeMark painted this image of Jackie Curtis, one of Andy Warhol's "superstars", who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 38 in 1985. The joint exhibition with Boy George, titled This Way Out, is at Camp and Furnace in Liverpool until 25 November.
- Published26 September 2013
