Joelle Circé Laramée is a remarkable artist and author. She prefers to be addressed as Circé (pronounced “seer-say”) regarding her art. Circé is a queer feminist, an atheist, and a trans woman. Her memoir, “Breaking Free: 45 Years in the Wrong Body,” goes beyond mere autobiography. It serves as a window to the artist’s soul, sharing raw and honest stories that describe her journey toward womanhood.
In 2020, I talked to this talented woman about her art and transition, and this is what told me about the book: "It had been close to five years that I had stopped painting thinking I had nothing more to say (I was soooo wrong) and my need for artistic expression brought me to take singing lessons, and finally I just knew I had to write my memoirs, which was something I have been wanting to do for some years now.
I wanted to share my life with others who might be going through something similar, and thinking that it might be too much because I have been at the lowest point on a few occasions and I suppose I got lucky because I gave myself a chance at life, I don't wish to be moralistic, I only think it's possible to survive and find a place in the world.So, with the help of a collaborator, I got to work on my memoirs, it wasn't easy because of certain things I had to revisit in my mind but ahead I went and got through it and I do hope that what I put down can be of help or support to others. By writing my memoirs, I actually came to realize that I miss painting very much and so I reassembled my studio and am about to embark on my journey as a paintress because I still do have much to share."
And another question about whether the transition changed her artistic perception of the world: "Oh yes, from painting landscapes and portraits to pay rent to a wholly focused gaze on women (all women-identified people). My painting style remains close to what it has always been but the subject matter did a 360º, I was no longer tied down, I was liberated and no longer feared being outed.My art has and continues to be how I am able to cope, survive and even flourish as a woman of trans origin. I also got married in 2009 to my Butch identified love though we've been together for close to twenty years now and I think we may have been, if not the first then one of the very first queer women couples to get married in which one is a woman of trans origin. I think that all this brought my life back into focus, gave me the freedom to better express my newfound womanhood and celebrate it and all my sisters, trans and cis alike."
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Photo via The Heroines of My Life
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