
Inherent vs Overt Political Queer Kink Art
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I’m going to put a thesis out here; kink and queer art in the worsening right-wing storm are inherently political. Anything that envisions something beyond the imagined world view of an authoritarian is going to be deemed “political” anyway. That’s going to be the case with queer, kink, even sexy heteronormative, art in a world shifting to a fundamentalist right, and longing for a simpler time like the 50’s atomic family values that frankly never really existed. The question is, should we embrace the outright political?
For me, it’s a tough question. One thing became clear to me as a young gay-ling in the 90s, sex had power. Yep, kissing a boyfriend good-bye in a suburban mall parking lot came with the threat of getting the crap beat out of you, but it also had the power to shock. Shock people enough, and eventually they habituate… well, depending on voltage, and never across the heart. The down side of sexuality as a political act is that it runs the risk of ruining the sexiness of things.
This brings me to a humiliation piece I’ve had in the hopper for a while. Honestly, I am really conflicted about the image.
I wanted a BIPoC man in a powerful and commanding position, that was easily drawn. Originally I had him commanding two skinheads on leashes. Then I pushed it a bit further and put them in Trump and Putin masks, and let is sit for a couple years. In light of the recent 2024 election in the US, I’ve pulled the piece out again and started working on it. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Do I finish this piece and put something overtly political into the world? Does it add anything? Is it just me wrestling with the inherent racism no longer simmering beneath the surface in North America? Worse is the image itself racist?
If art is supposed to make you question your world, then it’s mission accomplished for this piece and what it asks me. What are your thoughts?