Mariette
Pathy
Allen

I Was The Girl: Art by Vicky West (MATTE Editions, 2024, Hardback)

Edited in collaboration with Jesse Egner  /  With Photographs by Mariette Pathy Allen  /  Essays by Ms. Bob Davis and Briar Levit  /  Conversation by Veronica Vera with Bebe Scarpe  /  Designed by Santiago Martínez Alberú

“Vicky’s story is unusual in that she was a successful artist both as a man and as a woman. As Dirk, he was Executive Art Director of a publishing company in New York. As Vicky, she served as Art Director of “Drag” magazine and worked on other publications as well. She was stylish in both worlds. Vicky and I kept in touch until she died suddenly in 2005. Sherry, who shared her apartment, told me to take anything of Vicky’s that I wanted. I discovered two Saks Fifth Avenue shopping bags full of Vicky’s art from the 1970s and 80s. They contained the whole process of creating finished images starting from little sketches on napkins and scrap paper. This book is the outcome of wanting to share the gems I found in those shopping bags."  — Mariette Pathy Allen 

This is the first book about the life and work of Vicky West (1935 - 2005), a transgender illustrator and artist who played a pivotal role in an activist community she helped create. In 1971, Vicky West, along with Lee Brewster and Bebe Scarpe, launched Drag Magazine, the era’s most inclusive trans community publication, with Vicky serving as its art director for its entire run until 1983. This book showcases 64 of Vicky’s original drawings, including her iconic Drag Magazine covers, which explore themes of beauty, femininity, fashion, fantasy, and desire. Using playful naughtiness and wry humor, Vicky imagined different versions of her ideal feminized self, providing a powerful model for trans women across the United States. For her own pleasure, Vicky made explicit erotic sketches favoring sadomasochism, intertwined couples, and orgies. The book also features 18 photographs of Vicky by Mariette Pathy Allen, along with several written pieces that delve into Vicky's experiences, the cultural and societal context of her life, and the technical processes behind her artistic creations, from a quick sketch on a piece of scrap paper to a completed magazine cover. “I Was The Girl” brings to the fore the pioneer activists and events that are some of the less explored areas of transgender history—the years when “transvestite” was still the operative word and “transgender" was hardly in use and far less understood—and celebrates and preserves Vicky’s art and legacy for new generations of gender-expansive people. 

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TransCuba (Daylight Books, 2014, Hardback) 
Text by Mariela Castro Espín, Allen Frame, Wendy Watriss.

In TransCuba, Allen focuses on the transgender community of Cuba, especially its growing visibility and acceptance in a country whose government is transitioning into a more relaxed model of communism under Raúl Castro's presidency. This publication therefore records a cultural watershed within Cuba. 

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The Gender Frontier (Kehrer Verlag, 2003, Hardback) 
2004 Lambda Literary Award.

“From activism to inner explorations, this book presents the broadest available imaging of the incredible diversity of those daring souls whose lives are committed to exploring the gender frontier. ”
Nancy R. Nangeroni, GenderTalk Radio

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Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them (E.P. Dutton, 1989, Hardback)

This is a pioneering book of photographs and interviews with crossdressers and their loved ones: wives, children, and other family members. The focus is on presenting crossdressers in daily life, in positive settings and relationships. The photographs sensitive, sometimes beautiful, and the text offers insight into the differences between sexual orientation and gender presentation. “Transformations” is suitable for schools and libraries.

To purchase a copy of this book, please email me at mpa@mariettepathyallen.com or use my contact form here. 

Limited copies available.