Today we'd like to celebrate nonbinary Jewish artist Claude Cahun (1894-1954), who is best known for surrealist photographic self-portraits. Image titles and dates in this thread are included in the alt text. 
There's debate about what pronouns to use for Cahun. A Francophone living in the first half of the 20th century, "she" pronouns were used, but "they" pronouns better reflect their nonbinary identity. We've chosen to use they pronouns to refer to Cahun in this thread.
In their 1930 autobiography, Cahun wrote of their gender identity: "Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me."
Claude Cahun began taking photographic self portraits when they were 18. In 1919, they changed their name to the gender neutral Claude Cahun.
Throughout the 1920s, Claude Cahun produced a large body of self portraits, presenting themself in various guises and poses, playing with gender presentation.
They played around with photographic images, such as presenting two portraits, one sizing the other up.
They had a close artistic and romantic partnership with Marcel Moore, a designer and illustrator who may have been behind the camera at times when Cahun was creating their work.
In 1937, Cahun and Moore left Paris due to rising anti-semitism, and moved to Jersey. When Nazi Germany occupied the island, Cahun and Moore became active in the resistance, and produced anti-Nazi propaganda.
Cahun and Moore would produce anti-Nazi fliers, and wear disguises to slip into German social gatherings and surreptitiously plant their work in attendees' pockets and on tables and chairs.
Cahun and Moore were arrested in 1944 and sentenced to death by the Nazi occupiers. The sentence was not carried out; the island was liberated in 1945.
Sadly, Cahun's health never recovered after their imprisonment, and they died in 1954. They were buried with Marcel Moore at St Brelade's Church, Jersey.
As well as their photographic work, Cahun wrote, including Aveux non avenus, a book of dreams and essays, illustrated with photomontages.
In their lifetime, Claude Cahun was overlooked. In their lifetime, they did not exhibit their photographs. It was only in the 1990s that there was an explosion of interest from art historians, curators, and gender studies academics alike.
“If there is horror, it is for those who speak indifferently of the next war. If there is hate, it is for hateful qualities, not nations. If there is love, it is because this alone kept me alive.” - Claude Cahun
Oops, we got so excited to introduce you to Claude Cahun, we forgot the hashtag - this has been an #LGBTHistoryMonth thread, and we hope you enjoyed!
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