Wendy Piper
©1988 Craig Ashby
Digital Photography

Wendy Piper is an eighties digital portrait of the most influential person fro my college days. I have talked a lot of smack so let me just go over the good.

She loved Kate Bush and Nina Hagen. We bonded over our mutual love of Cocteau Twins. The truly cool thing about her was the breadth of her love of music. From Morricone to Coldcut she just got it.

She was the only girl who would just come to class dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Wig and all. She was never afraid to throw a wig on and she had more wigs than most drag queens we knew.

This eclecticism wasn’t about being moody although sometimes it was. It was an embrace of the fringes of life and turning that into a true celebration.

Her love of Queen Latifah lead her to making Ashes to Ashes hats. Why not try a record player as a backpack? Why not try anything just to try something?

Better than all this was the reactions it provoked. People sneered from groups of safety. Hiding behind their own intimidation in order not to appreciate someone who was ahead of the moment.

Given that this was art college, this saddens me. If you can’t appreciate what’s ahead of the curve then you shouldn’t be there.

Most of the horrible things I have said concerning the friendship are because at the end of it all, I still wish she were with me. I wish we were close and I could pick her brain for new tidbits. This is just wishing that she still is the same person I knew as a kid.