The LGBTQIA+ community has embraced photography since its invention in the 19th century. The medium imposes itself as a support for permanent renegotiation of the self in its relationship to the world, as well as an activist tool.
If, in the 19th century, we were not yet talking about queer photography, the movement already existed and its characteristics evolved over time. At that time, “we identify traces of photographs with games on gender and sexuality, and we notice many images representing homosexual couples”, specifies Marion Cazaux, doctoral student in contemporary art history at the University of Pau specializing in the question of gender. The photos, centered on the home and the daily life it contains, present few characters and reveal stories of love, transition and liberation, but also life journeys scarred by illness. These are often collages or colorful prints which, through their small format, evoke the intimate. “Queer photography allows us to create spectrums of visibility, to create art that is made by and for queer people, with a specific vocabulary and elements that only they will understand, continues Marion Cazaux. We can see references to our tutelary artistic figures, but also to important events such as the Stonewall riots. [une série de manifestations qui eurent lieu à la suite d’une descente de police dans un bar new-yorkais, en 1969, et qui sont considérées aujourd’hui comme les premières luttes LGBTQIA+, ndlr] or the AIDS years. »
A certain number of artists are part of a process of reappropriation of cultural symbols, which allows them to sketch other narratives articulated around their reality. Stories of alienation and resistance are then replayed, differently, before the eyes of the observer. “Even if we create heterotopias [un concept, théorisé par le philosophe Michel Foucault, qui renvoie à des lieux concrets ayant un rapport avec l’imaginaire, ndlr], we find links with society in general. We respond to her by playing with the codes she has established. I think of the recent photos of Jean Ranobrac, known for having immortalized the drag scene. He works on figures from Western art history and mythology. He takes the vocabulary of straight photography and manages to make it homoerotic by drawing inspiration from queer artists like Kehinde Wiley, an African-American painter who recomposes moments in Western history by replacing white characters with black characters. In his works, Jean Ranobrac gives space to homosexuals, who have not had any in the history of Western art. With another approach, Zanele Muholi offers a space to racialized queer people, often minoritized, by representing members of the South African LGBTQ+ community. It’s important to decenter the gaze and multiply the points of view”, supports Marion Cazaux.
