Artistic gay photography

Pacifico Silano captures gay male identity through a raw lens. Such politics have been put into practice by several image-makers this year whose work boldly observes, confronts and disobeys conventional modes of representation. Dazed media sites. InHujar himself died of an Aids-related illness.

Nominated by artistic figures across the art world—including curator and author Legacy Russell, photographer Catherine Opie, and art advisor Racquel Chevremont—these artists reflect the diversity and dynamism of queer creative expression today.

Gay lifes of pills and packets, syringes and cigarettes highlight the minutiae of trans embodiment while rendering the mundane meaningful. It is precisely this potential of photography to gather people into a coherent space — where their histories and relationships are rendered visible — that formed the nexus of their Eye Me exhibition, held this January.

Rejecting technical formalism in photography for raw intimacy, the show serves as an ode to the queer community. Queer Art Now is Artsy’s Pride Month celebration spotlighting 30 LGBTQ+ artists meeting the moment and shaping the future of contemporary art.

In this series, the artist places sapphic desire in sensuous, biophilic environments, demonstrating her radical approach to documenting lesbian culture. December 30, Text Alexandra Diamond-Rivlin. This Pride Month, we’re shining a spotlight on 10 incredible LGBTQ+ photographers and artists whose work inspires, challenges, and redefines the world around us.

If looking back contains the power to unsettle society, then its act suggests radical possibilities for queer photographers. As a photo-based company, we believe in the power of visual storytelling to yung gravy gay identity, amplify voices, and spark meaningful connections.

This year, The Jon Gould Collection of Andy Warhol Photographs opened up a previously unseen side of the artist, revealing how he saw others. By placing these faces quite literally next to death — images of entombed figures — Hujar transforms his living subjects into spectral figures immortalised by the camera.

Photography is an instrument for looking at — and capturing — the subject, but what happens when the photography looks back? His retro subjects – nude men in the act of sex – are re-photographed by the artist with a macro lens, exploding their pixels and obscuring their original contexts.

Published by Mack, A Forest Fire Between Us catalogues the work of Tee Corinne as one of the most prolific lesbian photographers of the 70s and beyond. Despite this, she created powerful and affirming visions of queer womanhood. His self-titled solo exhibition at Lisson Gallery — his first in 20 years — embraces a punk, DIY ethos.

The show offers poignant visual stories that illuminate the resilience, beauty and complexity of queer, South African lives. Pacifico Silano captures gay male identity through a raw lens. As such, Sepuya invites the viewer to reflect on the intimate relationship between our environment and the construction and mediation of identity.

The collection captures a candid, playful Gould while lending a rare glimpse into the romantic perspective of Warhol. InRudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union to the West, where he would become a revolutionary figure in male ballet and a muse to photographer, Colin Jones.

In his aptly named Exposure exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary, all the crucial elements of image-making are on show: the tripod, the camera, the studio, the sitter and the mirror structures that duplicate their naked forms. In Shadow Cast, images from vintage gay porn are rasterized, cropped and imbued with new meaning.

For Pierson, punk politics and aesthetics are inherently tied to the history of photography. Displaying photographs of glory holes, screens and nude men holding cameras, Sameshima invites the spectator to engage with a fading world of fantasy.

35 Queer Photographers Illustrate

In Shadow Castimages from vintage gay porn are rasterized, cropped and imbued with new meaning. His retro subjects — nude men in the act of sex — are re-photographed by the artist with a macro lens, exploding their pixels and obscuring their original contexts.

Read our feature on the series here. For the first time, his secret relationship with Gould — the year-old executive at Paramount Pictures — could be told in full with of his photographs.