Art Metropole

#14803

Queer Accomplices: This is not another photo of a gay male body

Writer

Be Oakley

Date

2021

Publisher

GenderFail

Format

Literary

Length

24 pp

Genre

Arts Writing, Contemporary Art, LGBTQ2S+, Risograph

“Queer Accomplices: This is not another photo of a gay male body” is an essay about the depiction of the gay male form in contemporary art. This manifesto is a call for an expanded queer aesthetics that puts as much emphasis on intersectionality as it does on the sexualized gay male form.

Be Oakley, (formally known as Brett Suemnicht) Born 1991 in Clearwater, Florida; is a writer, facilitator and publisher based in Brooklyn, NY. Oakley’s projects looks to what Fred Moten calls “the politics of the mess” by framing their identity as a white non-binary queer person in its intersections with failure and internationality. In 2015 they started GenderFail, a publishing and programming initiative that seeks to encourage projects that foster an intersectional queer subjectivity. Their work has been shown in programs and exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (NYC), The International Center of Photography (NYC), Vox Populi (Philadelphia) and Sediment (Richmond). Their publications can be found at Printed Matter (NYC), Artbook @ MoMA PS1 (NYC), the ICA Shop (Richmond), Ulises Books (Philly), Qumby’s Books (Chicago) and Lugemik (Estonia).