What is an Icon to you? Creating the Creature Ney Matogrosso

What is an Icon to you?

It is my understanding that an icon is created once you are truly and unapologetic yourself.

And this is precisely what Ney Matogrosso has achieved.

This is a very dear person to me.

This is the first being I ever saw in my life that was and I understood it as genderfluid.

I know it sounds like a very trivial thing today, but in the 70s Brazil, things were much different. Ney was a force to be recon and had always described himself in the most elegant way I ever saw.

He did it in a way the people at the time could understand: as a creature with both masculine and feminine qualities much earlier the term genderfluid was ever popularized.  Back then, many would describe him as "Androgynous" - he never really put any labels on himself but "bicho", something like animal or creature in Portuguese.

 

Ney was born in 1941 in a military family, and his first band was Secos e Molhados on the 70s, during the iron years of Military Dictatorship in Brazil. Because of his gender fluidity he was a target of the strong censorship at the time, and he used his alter ego "Serpent Man" as a way to resist through his art.

And they were against everything, the way he moved, his eyes, his voice, his very self.

Ney. Never. Bent. Nor Accommodated them.

 

  

He has always been an inspiration to me, my first sculpture, ever in my life, is also named, "Latin Blood" based on his work and lyrics. 

 

"My life, my deceased, my crooked paths, my latin blood"

    

[photos: Thereza Eugênia]

NETFLIX

Netflix has an excellent drama-doc about him named "Homem com H" or in English "Latin Blood - the ballad of Ney Matogrosso" . https://www.netflix.com/title/81754156

"This film stands out for portraying the singer's romantic relationships without puritanism or censorship." ( imdb.com)

The movie is carefully crafted, the choreography is meticulous and the photography and lighting are spectacular. I urge you to watch it. 

[image from Netflix]

To me, he is one of Brazil greatest singer of all time and queer fashion history hero that inspired me to create these year's look for Alt Ball.  

LET’S MAKE SOME BEAUTIFUL NOISE

MAY 15, 2026 ・ THE SOVEREIGN

All proceeds to benefit the mission and programs of DOORWAYS—which improves the quality of life of people affected by HIV, illness, and poverty, advancing their stability and well-being through housing, health, and empowerment services.

 Creating the Creature Ney