Crossing the Catwalk: Transvestism in Contemporary Fashion and Culture

Beaney, Laura Cherrie: - "For more than a decade Tabari Artspace communications director, Laura Cherrie Beaney has divided her time between artists' studios, documenting the social experiences and artistic practices that encapsulate the contemporary moment in the Middle East and beyond. As a social anthropologist Laura conducts in-depth interviews with the gallery's represented artists in order know and relay the motivations behind their creative practices - social, cultural, political and psychological - more intimately. She has written extensively on the art of the MENSA region contributing to publications including Canvas Magazine, Tatler, and Harper's Bazaar Art. In 2019 she published her first book, Crossing the Catwalk: Transvestism in Contemporary Fashion and Culture with Academica Press. A passionate contributor to not-for-profit and humanitarian organisations Laura is currently supporting curatorial platform, Archaeology of the Final Decade (AOTFD), as a research assistant. The non-profit platform excavates and researches histories of nations condemned by social displacement, cultural annihilation or deliberate disappearance. Laura is pursuing a PhD at SOAS, University of London. Her interdisciplinary research focused on second-generation female artists in the Iranian diaspora, crosses contemporary art, gender studies and ethnography."