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Androgyny of Body and Soul

and explore the feminine and the masculine though his body, “I’ve never felt it’s only man and woman, black and white, everything is on the​gray for me, everything is mixed. Androgyny is not so much physical, it’s more of a mindset.”


The clothes we wear, more than covering us reveal us. The way we decorate our bodies sends a message about who we are, what we believe in and what our lives are like. Damian uses his body as a way to share his ideas about living between the feminine and the masculine, “I like being who I am, I’m not too feminine nor too masculine, I show what I think through my body.”


We all have different ideas on what it is to be masculine or feminine, so none of us are 100% masculine or feminine, we all have a bit of both. For Damian, to value and express these two energies has brought him some benefits, “it’s made me more empathetic, I judge less, I listen to people better, and give advice. I’ve always felt I have an open mind.”

GALLERY

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BY ALEX MOYA  //  PHOTOS BY BALAM YAPUR

Salt Lake City, UT. June 2013

Is it a boy or a girl? A question our mothers get asked even before we are born, and the answer will define us so much for the rest of our lives. Even before we are born our roles are already given to us: pink if its’ a girl or blue if it’s a boy, masculine if it is a man or feminine if it is a woman.

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​But, what happens if you don’t choose between pink or blue, or to express yourself either femininely or all butch, what happens if you choose both? That’s what Damian has done since childhood. Damian thinks of himself as androgynous, for Damian that means to value

Damian thinks of his androgyny as artistic expression, like his drawings and paintings, but using his own body. “The make-up was always very important for me, not because I didn’t like myself, but because I see my transformation as art.” Damian wears make-up since high school, and during that time he was also part of the soccer, football, baseball, and track teams.


He  told his family, from Chihuahua, Mexico, about his attraction to men when he was in elementary school, “my parents are very open-minded, they were okay with it. I’ve been in relationships with men and women, but I don’t label myself, I don’t say ‘I’m gay’ or ‘I’m bisexual,’ I’m not attracted to the genitals but to the person as a whole.” Damian doesn’t believe in sex-based divisions, like tops or bottoms, “each person’s sexuality is as unique as each of them. Sexuality is something that changes, it changes throughout life, with the new things we do. It’s fluid.”

Since he was 15 years old, Damian transforms into Autiana, “I like splitting Damian from Autiana because it is a way to show others what’s on my mind. Autiana is not a person but a mood, the part of me that likes the club-scene, to be a diva, sex, doing things that grab people’s attention… but I’ve given it a physical appearance. Damian and Autiana are the same person, but Damian wears less make up.”


This openness is reflected on his studies, he is working on degrees in Psychology and Philosophy, with a minor in Art, “I like to question, see what others think. I’m never going to believe, I’m always going to wonder.”

Gente

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