Into the Camp: A Journey WORDS Zayan Ismail @zayanisml_
ILLUSTRATION Therese Dias @diastherese
Much had changed when the world witnessed the closing of the early noughties. It was an era of anticipation for transformation. On the internet, in music, on television: the zeitgeist of the 2010s ushered in something different — something reminiscent of love, transformation and yearning for tolerance and acceptance. I saw it first on MTV. Gaga, in a bright blue swimsuit and a blond bob singinging ‘Poker Face’. The theatrics of ‘Paparazzi’, and then came ‘The Fame’, in which 40
she coins the famous line “obsessively opposed to the typical”. I saw the outlandish outfits, chiffon and latex, shades and long trains — how camp and how strange. I was thoroughly intrigued. With ‘Born This Way’, I began to realise my uniqueness and accept that it was in many ways, totally okay. I was always different, and very much cognisant of the fact that I was existing in a world different than my own internal one. As a child I was imaginative, always drawing, reading, listening and
The Sex Issue
