Y
This body of work exists under the working title of “Y” - a reference to both the shape of a river confluence and a divining rod. Divining rods, which require suspension of disbelief to operate, are used to locate sources of energy underground: flowing rivers, tunnels, holes. Lauren Berlant, in Sex in Public, writes that “The queer world is a space of entrances, exist, unsystematized lines of acquaintance, projected horizons, typifying examples, alternate routes, blockages, incommensurate geographies”; namely, a network of interiors. The underground is the counterpublic, negative space, unoccupied structure on the periphery. It reveals itself as one enters it and brings light inside of it. Light can traverse both matter and vacuum. Those who seek a vacuum are in search of a refuge, a place to exist outside of physical and social constraints; in these spaces, magic circles are created.
Nearly all of these pictures have been made in minimally lit or pitch black space, at night. Darkness presents new possibilities for self expression; forces those in it to confront themselves as they sublimate into it. Being totally sealed from the world, dark spaces operate on their own separate structure of logic, where social standards don’t apply, where the individual projects themself and their light onto it in order to see. I imagine the underground as a hallucinatory space, a masquerade party, connecting halls between nooks and crannies, filled with small fires and lovemaking, a place to enact one’s fantasy of spiritual re-enchantment. New arteries and niches continue to be surveyed as they are discovered, creating a network of bodies and respective desires. Likewise, making pictures for this body of work is more akin to drawing a map.
I’m drawn to breaking down the visual structure of tunnels, hallways, holes, portals, and vacuums, exploring how they are conduits for emotional and spiritual energy via the artificial light brought into it and the people occupying it. The settings for the images vary from gay kink nightlife, to haunted houses, to limestone cave systems, to mushroom trips in the woods. Underground, interior spaces resist mapping, and can only be condensed into cross-sections for navigational purposes. Likewise, Y is presented as a series of vignettes of events I have taken part in, and thus becomes a broad self-portrait of a transitionary period.
Nearly all of these pictures have been made in minimally lit or pitch black space, at night. Darkness presents new possibilities for self expression; forces those in it to confront themselves as they sublimate into it. Being totally sealed from the world, dark spaces operate on their own separate structure of logic, where social standards don’t apply, where the individual projects themself and their light onto it in order to see. I imagine the underground as a hallucinatory space, a masquerade party, connecting halls between nooks and crannies, filled with small fires and lovemaking, a place to enact one’s fantasy of spiritual re-enchantment. New arteries and niches continue to be surveyed as they are discovered, creating a network of bodies and respective desires. Likewise, making pictures for this body of work is more akin to drawing a map.
I’m drawn to breaking down the visual structure of tunnels, hallways, holes, portals, and vacuums, exploring how they are conduits for emotional and spiritual energy via the artificial light brought into it and the people occupying it. The settings for the images vary from gay kink nightlife, to haunted houses, to limestone cave systems, to mushroom trips in the woods. Underground, interior spaces resist mapping, and can only be condensed into cross-sections for navigational purposes. Likewise, Y is presented as a series of vignettes of events I have taken part in, and thus becomes a broad self-portrait of a transitionary period.
HOME