Interview of Siobhan Meow

Siobhan Meow has lived in the same building since the 1980s and shares her story of transforming the once-squat, that had no heat or water, into a low-income co-op. “It was like the United Nations,” she recalls, of the early era of the squat, people from all over passed through. Faced with aggressive attempts by the city to demolish the building, Siobhan describes puttingher body on the line to protect the space and the intense manual labor of rehabilitating the building across decades. A witness to a changing city, Siobhan discusses the coalition building that defined the early years of the squatting movement and her complicated relationship to the building’s current legal recognition as a co-op. Siobhan also shares her story of survival,navigating her mental health and trans healthcare in NYC, and her passion for saving cats. An interdisciplinary artist, Siobhan is also the proud winner of the Ms. Howard Stern beauty pageant – “Of course I won!”.

Date of Interview:

August 1, 2023

Location of Interview:

Umbrella Haus, Lower East Side, New York

Place of birth:

Brooklyn, New York

Pronouns:

Sri/It/Meow

Interviewed by

Aviva Silverman

Summary by

Lauren Holt