David Holah
I was born in Kentish Town in London, so I am from the big city originally, but my parents brought me and my two brothers up in a small village in the countryside in Oxfordshire.
From when I was a young boy my mother encouraged my drawing, painting, knitting and sewing skills. After an apprenticeship in hairdressing, I attended an artfoundation course at Banbury School of Art and from there I gained a position on a BA course in Fashion at Middlesex Polytechnic and returned to London in 1979.
After obtaining a 1st Class Degree with Honours in Fashion, I launched the pioneering fashion label BodyMap in 1983 with fellow colleague Stevie Stewart.
Soon we became internationally acclaimed fashion stars. Although there have been many ups and downs, I have worked In fashion for many years, and more recently I have taken time out to develop new skills and techniques in printmaking, and graduated, in July 2006, with an MA in Fine Art from Camberwell College of Art.
My practice explores notions of sexual identity, gender in a "transmorphic" state, and the social perception of gender roles (feminine male or masculine female). I am interested in this displacement in society and the effect it has on my own state of sexual identity. I have developed an alter ego that fulfils the more prominent female side of my personality and creates work employing stereotypical feminine imagery.
The work produced is glamorous, decorative, ornamental, and camp. It is produced through the juxtaposition of my male personality with the symbolism that surrounds the feminine.
The work contains suggestive symbolism concerning gender disguise and hidden elucidation. The work is self-indulgent and contains complex, subliminal elements that relate to my own history and personal sexual identity and my interpretation of my feminine male role.