DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/5ZH4-9V59
Defense Date
2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Photography and Film
First Advisor
Justin James Reed
Second Advisor
Sonali Gulati
Third Advisor
Aaron McIntosh
Abstract
The Wild Beasts springs from my desire to thank my ever-expanding queer chosen family and mentors for their strength. Working through the often violent and othering aspects of the lens and photographic histories I create floral portraits responding to each person’s being and our relationship. Using the 19th century, 8x10 large format view camera—the same used by colonialists and ethnographers to “capture” the divinity of Nature—I erect each as a traditional still life studio setup at the threshold between the natural world and that constructed by humans. These environments speak both to the character of each friend and also to the use of Nature against queer people in most legal systems across the planet. We are deemed unnatural and made criminals through inequitable semantics. The 8x10 negative becomes a portrait, a darkroom contact print that is gifted to each of The Wild Beasts, an intimate artifact of my gratitude. At these borders I lash at the histories of oppression, remaking these lineages and tools into spaces for empathy, tenderness, and love.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-10-2019
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Art Practice Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Painting Commons, Photography Commons, Sculpture Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons