For the New York Times’ “Overlooked” section, a series of obituaries for incredible people whose deaths went unreported in the Times, I wrote about Lorenza Böttner––a transgender artist who found beauty in disability. Böttner, whose speciality was self-portraiture, celebrated her armless body in paintings she created with her mouth and feet while dancing in public.
It was the weekend of the gay pride parade in New York City in 1984 when Denise Katz heard her doorbell ring. Surprised, she opened her door and was greeted by Lorenza Böttner, a transgender artist, who was wearing a wedding gown that she had customized to fit her armless body.
“I’m here for the party!” Böttner said in her hybrid German-Chilean accent. Though Böttner had buzzed the wrong apartment, Katz invited her in anyway. “From that moment on, we didn’t part,” she said.
That Katz worked in an art supply store and Böttner was a prolific artist was pure coincidence.
Click here to read the full article for the New York Times.
