Gay, Gay And Lesbian - 1816 Words

One of the latest genres of the visual arts, photography has had a close association with gay and lesbian culture since its establishment in the nineteenth century. Queer by definition means strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different. But then again as a slang word in the LGBT community it means homosexual or noting or relating to a person who does not conform to a normative sexual orientation or gender identity. The concept of gay photography is enigmatic. While a person can be described as homosexuals by sexual preference or gay consciousness, an inanimate object such as a photograph cannot. I will be exploring how gay and lesbian themes are influencing photography though looking at pinnacle photographers at the†¦show more content†¦In figure one the image does show two men holding each other in an intimate way, certainly not how two straight men would pose for a photo. They look blissful and content, this is probably the first photo they would have taken together and I believe this is one of the first images every produced of a gay couple. It creates an unusual warmth to the image. The background in the image reminds me of a forbidden forest, I’m unsure of the photographer but I like to think that there’s controversial meaning to the background and the couple present. Wilhelm Von Gloeden (1836-1931) was one of the first to treat photography as an independent art form and share his own private view of heaven with cultured networks and fellow homosexuals across the world. â€Å"With a clearly defined aesthetic and a sure sense of his own artistry, von Gloeden abandoned scenic postcard photography to become the foremost proponent of a kind of purely pictorial photography which, for its day, was revolutionary.† (Haggerty, 2000, pp. 687–687). Using photography for own artist expression is natural and encouraged in these days, but back in that time, the ‘real’ artists ignored this form of photography. But by 1887, the public and critics began to understand real pictorial photography and understand what the photographer was trying to relate to whether a feeling or a story or a lifestyle. The development of this kind of photography lead the documentary artists like Berenice Abbott to photograph gay,