Linda, Lee & Dorsey, Louis (1988~, 2018)

2016 - Photography (Photography)

147.32 x 73.66 cm

Marcel Pardo Ariza

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In Linda, Lee & Dorsey, Louis (1988~, 2018) Marcel Pardo Ariza draws on Bay Area queer histories that have been uncovered from local archives and queer organizations, and connects them to people currently living in the Bay, where Ariza is also based. This particular portrait features a skein of arms and legs, in both color and black and white print, intimately woven together. Tender and sensual, the tangle of limbs incorporates both stereotypically feminine and masculine traits in various skin tones. Notably, however, the intimate photograph refuses to explicitly assign gender, race or sexuality to the fragmented bodies, encouraging viewers to consider these bodies not as sexual objects with discrete characteristics, but mutable, interconnected elements of a robust and fluid network. Functioning as a framework through which to question representations of the body, gender, race, and power, Linda, Lee & Dorsey, Louis (1988~, 2018) offers alternatives to the hegemonic ‘defaults’ of these constructs. In such a way, Pardo Ariza’s work builds kinship through imagery.

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Marcel Pardo Ariza is a queer latinx visual artist and curator that explores the relationship between representation, kinship, and queerness through constructed photographs, color sets, and installations. By staging varied subjects and anthropomorphic objects, Pardo Ariza deploys set design as a method by which to explore the possibility of building and re-building narratives, while also envisioning alternative queer presents and futures. Playing with the rigidity that is often present in the photographic medium, Pardo Ariza’s work illustrates her commitment to celebrating the erroneous, the humorous, navigating intergenerational connection, and questioning arbitrary paradigms.

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Colors:

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• homosexuality.n.01
• affinity.n.04
• community.n.01
• body.n.01
• representation.n.03
• sex.n.04