Queerness in Photography

C/O Berlin examines the representation of identity, gender, and sexuality in photography in three complementary exhibitions. Ranging from historical image material that shows the act of photographing as a way to find one’s identity, a documentation of a safe space that is unique in the history of photography, to contemporary forms of expressing gender fluidity, all of which bring up the question of whether socially constructed genders are even topical today.

Since the invention of the medium in 1839, photography has not only depicted people; it has also significantly influenced their position in society and politics due to the way that photography visually categorizes people based on their physical characteristics, behavior, and clothing. By marking constructed gender roles, it also became a medium of stigmatization and discrimination. 

The three exhibitions on Queerness in Photography reveal a complex panorama and show that photography can also be an act of liberation and self-empowerment. By visualizing one’s own identity or documenting the common solidarity in the queer community, new forms of artistic representation are created.
 

Casa Susanna .
Cindy Sherman Collection

The exhibition presents original photographs of Casa Susanna from the collection of the photographer who is probably the world’s most famous artist of disguise.

Casa Susanna was a safe space for cross-dressers and trans women in Hunter, New York, in the 1950s and 1960s. Within this small community, members could together explore their identities—at a time when lifestyles, sexuality, and gender deviating from heteronormative expectations and conventions were stigmatized and even prosecuted.

The act of photographing within this community was socially volatile, since the members were documenting something that was not allowed at the time: a life outside of socially constructed gender roles as well as personal growth that was based on an individual’s own needs. The visual world of Casa Susanna reveals the solidarity within this community as well as the light-heartedness and joy of people who are allowed to be themselves. 
 

The works in Orlando, some of which were created especially for the show, present various perspectives on questions of identity, gender, origin, and sexuality. Through the diversity of artistic approaches and perspectives, common concepts, forms of representation, and power relations are broken. 

The exhibition presents works by the artists Zackary Drucker, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jamal Nxedlana, Elle Pérez, Walter Pfeiffer, Sally Potter, Viviane Sassen, Collier Schorr, Mickalene Thomas, and Carmen Winant. Exhibition organized by Aperture, New York.