Man with a Fan

Text by
Felix Burrichter
Photography by
Daniel Trese
01/05

The first fan MAURICE ever saw was the one his mother used in church, a little cedar one that she kept in a metallic box. At his local Baptist church in California — where his father was the pastor — women used their fans for all kinds of things. “They’d be fannin’, clappin’, tambourinin’, you name it,” Maurice reminisces. “And there was always something sexual about it as they were all so vigorously fanning their sweaty bodies.” Once in his teens Maurice took matters in his own hands and started fan dancing in clubs, a dramatic style he developed which isn’t unlike Vogueing. Today one can see (and hear) him swinging and clapping his goods at parties all over Los Angeles, whether at Akbar, Rhonda, or Full Frontal Disco. Maurice loves the noise they make, and the kind of movement they produce — but most importantly he also uses them for, well, fanning. Because, as he says, “I get hot!”

Published on 11 February 2011