These Pleasures A Wayward Distraction
Monoprints on toiletpaper
‘Reality and its Disorders’, group show at Espacio Gallery, London, 2020A project consisting of monoprints on toilet paper – abstract shapes in colour alongside black and white self-portraits, each accompanied by a single word emphasising an emotional state, like ‘Lonely’ or ‘Claustrophobic’, words addressing my closeted and lonely gay adolescence, struggling to come terms with my sexuality. The work was evoked and produced during the second week of the 2020 lockdown during a shortage of toilet paper, when I also experienced feelings of isolation and loneliness.
I made twenty prints which I exhibited as a series on Instagram. Eight of these works were included in the group show ‘Reality and its Disorders’ curated by Ahmed Farooqui for the Degrees of Freedom artists’ group, September 2020.
The self-portraits respond to Raffaele Monti’s 1860s sculpture ‘The Veiled Lady (The Bride)’ and were photographed with my face and upper body covered in plastic sheeting. The title and a written statement use elements from the lyrics of Isolation by Joy Division (Factory Records, 1980).
For the physical show, I reinterpreted ‘Lonely’ as a Xerox poster, the original print enlarged by 1000%, a size exposing the material qualities of toilet paper, while also emphasising the magnitude of loneliness in relation to the lockdown and from a queer closet perspective.
As Michael Hobbs writes in ‘Together Alone, the Epidemic of Gay Loneliness’, Huffington Post, 2 March 2017, ‘Whether we recognize it or not, our bodies bring the closet with us into adulthood’ and feelings of loneliness, isolation and insecurity continue to have an impact on my life.
During the show, I test-performed To Step Outside, a recital of a brief text expressing a desire to break out and see the world, developed during a self-assigned residency at The Queer Hut, see link, Regulars At The Queer Hut.
These Pleasures A Wayward Distraction, monoprints on toilet paper, 105mm x 125mm, acrylic sheeting. Xerox print, 1000mmx760mm
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