I've collected dolls as long as I can remember. As a little girl in the 1950's, when given a doll, the first thing I did was undress her. In 1998, I did the same when given the first officially 'gay' doll, Billy. What I discovered was an anatomically enhanced figure. Inspired by the fact that this was the first politically motivated doll, I decided to make images of him. I began by creating one of a kind outfits which would express something other than the male dolls who promote war and violence. I worked with LifeBeat in New York and Totem, the creator of the doll, to get a variety of leading fashion names to contribute their talents as well: Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, Nicole Miller, Katharine Hamnett, Betsey Johnson, Diesel, Valentino, Perry Ellis, Paul Smith, and Matsuda, among others. The original dolls were auctioned, raising money and awareness of HIV.

Beyond that event, I wanted to use Billy to say more. He is out and proud and I wanted to 'work' with him to promote understanding with regard to diversity. The poet/author Max Blagg wrote 'Five Days' , a piece which describes in rich detail the journey of a very heterosexual man's exploits as he drives across the U.S. from California to New York. With Mr. Blagg's permission, I took words from that piece and inserted them into the images. Upon first reading, one would assume that the words describe a homosexual act, however that is not the case. Why should one assume the same-sex love does not take the same body of feelings and passions as heterosexual love? The point: If we can eradicate boundaries, break limiting thought patterns, then we might get a step closer to being the family of man.