“I imagine the portrait as a symbolic space that represents the earnest attempt of the sitter to perform masculinity or femininity within the confines of a regulated system. The portrait is then altered. It exists in the context of a yearbook, subject to the dispositions of its owner. This allows me to highlight the camp and failed performance of the sitter, while simultaneously conceiving of the yearbook as a Freudian space in which the “owner” consolidates their own identity. The “owner” of the yearbook acts out the disavowal of same gender attachment, the melancholy of a denied attachment, and consolidation of their identity, by defacing the image. I incorporate superhero iconography as an allusion to the heterosexist behaviors present in popular culture that are emulated by adolescent boys.”

Resume – Austin Harvey