The Unicorn Files: A Geek Girl Photo Book
Thank goodness geek girls come in all shapes and sizes! After all, the world would be a truly boring and pretty awful place if we didn’t. GeekGirlCon celebrates the female geek in all her forms, and one of our longtime staff members Terra Clarke Olsen is putting together a project that celebrates all of us, just as we are, as a new way to tell our stories as geek girls.
Image credit: Tammy Vince Cruz
The Unicorn Files: Debunking the Myth of the Female Geek is a collection of photos of women in their “natural habitat”, surrounded by their passions and obsessions. Terra and her partner, photographer Nate Watters, have put this project together—and they’re running a Kickstarter to get funding for it!
In Terra’s words:
“About a year and a half ago, I started The Unicorn Files: Debunking the Myth of the Female Geek, a project that highlights different geeky women in the community. And today, I’m launching a Kickstarter in the hopes of raising the funds to turn this project into a photo book.
“For the past year, Nate Watters (good friend and my son’s godfather) and I have been photographing geeky women in their homes, creating a collection of beautiful photos, each as unique as the individual. Originally we wanted to create a photo exhibit, but then we realized that these photos and women’s stories should be shared with the rest of the community on larger scale! So we’ve decided to launch a Kickstarter in the hopes that we can self-publish a book.
“The Unicorn Files aims to capture the diverse body of female geeks by featuring individual geeky women, giving women in the community a chance to tell their story. We aimed to capture a wide selection of women, from fans to people in the industry (such as Kelly Sue DeConnick). The photos represent them and what they love. Each woman and how she are shot is different (some women have a lot of geek memorabilia while others have none), but the one common theme being that the photos are taken in their home (a safe space that is reflective of them). Each participant will have a bio and quote accompany their photo. In addition to the photographs, the book would also contain a location of short stories and essays from women in the community.
“We’re really proud of the photos and stories we’ve collected (hopefully this is volume 1!), so please consider donating to our Kickstarter and help make this dream a reality!”
Terra and her adorable son Rainer (from Terra’s Facebook page)
Who is Terra Clarke Olsen? Terra was on the GeekGirlCon staff starting in January 2012 as our Street Team Coordinator—which meant she helped wrangle our awesome volunteers for events during the year. She transitioned to Manager of GeekGirlConnections for a couple of years and is now serving on the GeekGirlCon Board of Directors as our treasurer. Terra and her husband have recently started a family, and Terra writes regularly for the website Have You Nerd?, which she and fellow geek girl Meg Humphrey founded.
The Unicorn Files started as a Tumblr site run and maintained by Terra and Nate Watters. The site also promotes other geeky women and projects.
Photographer Nate Watters (from Nate’s Facebook page)
If you want to see this awesome project out in the world (and we definitely do!), go to the Kickstarter page now and donate. There are some great contributor rewards for different levels. The project launched June 15, 2015, and will end on July 15, 2015—so contribute now, and we’ll all get to see these beautiful, awesome, amazing geeks in their natural habitats.
