This project explores the symbolism and mystique of the homosexual male image in Western popular culture
from the mid-20th century to the end of the millennium. It moves through ideals of heightened beauty and the
visual language of hegemonic power, unpacking their spaces, codes and constructions.

Between the personal and the constructed, the collection begins with a duffel bag and photographs of my
grandfather in the U.S. Navy, from which a visual memory emerges and expands into Tom of Finland and Robert
Mapplethorpe, homoerotic magazines from the 70s, 80s and 90s, and Jean Genet’s Querelle.

The selection of fabrics —cretonne, leather, lycra and nylon— builds a narrative around masculine power
structures reinterpreted through a queer lens. Lycra and neoprene sculpt the body, leather introduces
structure, cretonne carries memory, and nylon evokes uniforms and systems of control and authority.