“SINCE WHEN DOES a tranny make an inspirational person?”
That was just one of the tweets that stuck with artist Conor Collins, who created a portrait of the famous Vanity Fair cover of Caitlyn Jenner out of the hateful tweets and death threats that Jenner received when she announced her transition.
Collins is based in Manchester but both his parents are Irish. He told TheJournal.ie how he came to create the portrait:
“I admire what Caitlyn has done…so I went on her Twitter to see more, and I was horrified by some of the comments.
When I saw them, I wanted to show them because it is a reality of what trans people experience every day.
“Caitlyn’s is making a difference to the trans community, however I didn’t want to hide the darkness and persecution they face in my art piece. It just wouldn’t be fair.”
Jenner has praised the artist’s picture, saying “Turning hate into love is so beautiful and powerful.”
Describing the process of creating the portrait Collins said, “It was horrible having to research and write the tweets onto the canvas.
To get through it I ended up working through half a bottle of whiskey and didn’t stop working on the painting till the small hours of the morning.
“I am not sure how I kept a steady hand, however I don’t think I could have written so much hate sober.”
Collins said the tweets that affected him the most were:
“If I was one of Caitlyn Jenner’s kids I’d kill myself” and “Pay me to kill #CaitlynJenner”.
Hate mail
Speaking about the reaction his piece has received Collins said, “It seems to have spread really quickly and the responses are on the whole really rather positive.
“For every person who sees it another person is shown the persecution and real danger trans people face.
I’ve received a fair bit of hate mail in my emails from people who hate the Transgendered community, or hate me, or just generally hate a lot of things.
“The same thing happened when I produced my portrait of Tom Daley. But I find the more hate mail I receive…the better job I am probably doing.”
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