David
Dietcher, Guest Curator
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This is an exhibition of photographs
of men in strikingly affectionate poses. Although it includes a wide variety
of photographic formats - from early studio tableaux to later casual snapshots
- one thing unites all these images of unknown men: the emotional bond
shared between the sitters. Confronted by such demonstrative images of
men posing arm in arm or gazing into each other's eyes, the contemporary
viewer is left to wonder about the affection they shared, and about the
meaning and purpose of the photographs that survive. Were these long-dead
sitters friends or relatives, colleagues or lovers? In all likelihood,
we will never know. And perhaps that doesn't matter. One aspect of photographs
that makes them so compelling is that they can generate so many unpredictable
meanings - this despite their capacity to record their subjects in vivid
detail. Thus, the physical expression of love between the men in such
pictures is bound to provoke profoundly different reactions, depending
on the viewer's gender, sexual orientation, race or class. Wonder is a highly appropriate
response in looking at these photographs, since so little information
survives about the sitters or about the actual circumstances that led
to the creation of their portraits. Some observers may immediately presume
that these photographs represent visual evidence of an implicitly validating
gay male history that they have elsewhere been denied. Others may just
as confidently assert the opposite: that the men in these pictures were
merely adhering to outmoded conventions for self-representation dating
from earlier, more sentimental times. This exhibition means to set aside
all such prejudices, to create a space in which one can reflect upon the
ambiguity of vernacular photographs, and consider the unfathomable process
of deciphering their meanings.
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March
29 through June 10, 2001 Showtime Networks, Inc is proud sponsor of this exhibition. Additional support is provided by Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan. |