Rising from the Ash
2023
Levi's Denim, cowhide leather, pinewood, stainless steel, diamond-studded belt + buckle
In commemorating the Wreck Room(1972-1996), 'Rising from the Ash' celebrates Milwaukee's premier Levi + Leather bar and the perseverance of the Catherine Foley tavern--the oldest standing structure in Milwaukee's Third Ward.
The form of a matchbook is significant to this bar's story (not only in discovering the building stood through three fires since its erection in 1884) because of the important role matchbooks played in LGBTQ networking prior to the Gay Liberation movement. Matchbooks were a way of advertising a gay bar's existence when it would not have been allowed in more conventional forms of news or advertising. It was also common for the back to feature a "trick sheet", a place where one could write down their name and number for a potential love interest. The names on this trick sheet include the two owners and life partners of the Wreck Room, Wayne Bernhagen and Bill Kindt.
Archival images courtesy of Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project