Frank Capers

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1970s
Paint and marker on wood
33 x 20.25 inches
Collection of
Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Doyle found a rich source of subject material in the sexual characteristics, activities, and proclivities of the islanders. No doubt Doyle's "readers," his local audience, made frequent return visits to his house to see which new revelations Doyle would choose to present. Would it be Bull Dagger ("that's two in one, a man and a woman, oh yes, a natural, just half and half"). Or LeBe, two women in an embrace. Or men, similarly inclined ("them two lovers but they mens. We got plenty around here"). Frip, a farmer who came from neighboring Fripp Island, had "St. Helena's longest" (penis, that is), and is "St. Helena's best" (farmer?). And paintings of Frank Capers, the first barber, were often nuanced with intimations of homosexuality.