Queer

A dynamic mix of photographic work exploring questions of queer identity. This edition of Aperture presents a mix of new photographic work exploring questions of queer identity, as well as past figures and projects that are the subject of new research and curatorial work. In the Words section, Critic Vince Aletti, art historian Richard Meyer, and photographer Catherine Opie reflect on the term queer and its relationship with photography; Hal Fischer discusses his project Gay Semiotics with Julia Bryan-Wilson; Sophie Hackett revisits Joan E. Birens seminal Dyke Show; Shannon Michael Cane on queer independent publishing and zine culture; Philip Gefter on his discovery of Sam Wagstaffs never-before-seen photography and what it reveals about his storied relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe; and South African photographer Zanele Muholi speaks with Deborah Willis about her ongoing project to make her countrys LGBTQ community visible. The Pictures section features William J. Simmons on Jimmy DeSanas work from the late 1970s; Senam Okudzeto on Lyle Ashton Harriss projects addressing colonial history and homophobia in Ghana; Stephanie H. Tung on Ren Hang, a rising star of contemporary Chinese photography who creates provocative imagery; Kevin Moore on the queer dimension of David Benjamin Sherrys colorful images of the American landscape, which reference icons of modernist photography; Andy Campbell on K8 Hardys performance-based photography; Sophie Mrner on trans photographer Nitzan Krimskys poignant self-documentation; Ana Finel Honigman on Dean Sameshimas images created with appropriated vintage pornographic imagery; Dean Daderko on A.L. Steiners antic and political photo-collages and installations; and Eva Respini considers Mark Morrisroes fervent self-portraiture made during the 1980s.