On Publicizing [Homo,Hetero,Confused,Everything Gray] Sexuality

In evaluation of artistic blockbuster themes of summer 2012, the idea of “examining the visibility of queer bodies within mainstream culture,” as stated by the curators at the Brooklyn Museum, is one that resonated with me most closely. Not because of my personal sexual orientation, which becomes more and more grey despite my fairly defined personal orientation, as venues such as the Brooklyn Museum continue to put forth toward main stream culture, but because of the political and social climate defined in the past year.

On May 9, 2012 during an interview with ABC News, President Obama stated that he believes same sex couples “should be able to get married.” This was the first time that any Presidential candidate has publicly announced support for this topic.  Ironically, two years prior to this government endorsed idea, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., a government sponsored institution, was the “first major exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture” as stated by NPR. The exhibition titled “Hide/Seek” featured work by famous artists such as Warhol, Whitman, and Johns, and featured the highly controversial video by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, titled “A Fire in My Belly.”

Two years, six states, and one presidential endorsement later, the openness of questionable sexual orientation has manifested within and outside the art world.  From the eyes of a fairly irregular and untrained arts patron, I have personally stumbled into four different exhibits this summer featuring the questioning and publication of sexual orientation in a public light without the intention of doing so. These resonated with me so greatly because each touched on a different aspect of sexual orientation that opened the conversation to more than merely accepting homosexuality, but rather  showcasing many voices on a topic that has separated our culture despite every other way we are similar other than those we decide to love. They shed light onto the idea of open and less defined sexuality that spans more than personal preference, but what it means for the human race, emotional health, and perception of ideas in mainstream culture.

From highly provocative images of multi-partnered sexual relations at a gallery opening filled with dirty Brooklyn hipsters drinking PBR in Chelsea, to political justice exhibitions at the Whitney Museum on the upper east side showcasing a voice over of a protest for equal rights for homosexual citizens and the social stigmas that follow, to the depths of Brooklyn at the Raw/Cooked exhibit where Brooklyn based artist Ulrike Müller asked fellow female artists to define their interpretation of lesbianism through multiple mediums, to the discussion of redefining sexuality through early education at the New Museum in SoHo all show that sexualization in popular media probe further than what we see in Rent! or portraying homosexuality as a counterculture. Instead, these works showcase the shades of grey and redefine sexuality as something that should be more open for discussion and less of an avant-garde or counterculture dialogue.

By presenting 360 degree view of sexuality to the public, we can be defined less as gay, straight or lesbian. We can become reeducated on the ideas of the role, or lack of role, in the public eye, and become more accepting of everything different (or the same) from ourselves.