honorable mention
Aaron Richmond-Havel united states
title
The Quarantined Queens Rehearse their Production of "The Butcher of Las Sirenas" in a Time of Plague
Conceptually, the series is meant to evoke the narrative of the unpublished novella: a tale of a Spanish casta painter who travels to New Spain on the rumor of mermaids. Each set also includes an enigmatic excerpt of text from the chapter being represented. Inspired also by the New Wave photography of Gered Mankowitz, I was interested in exposing the borders of the set and making the whole production transparent. Furthermore, I kept the borders of the frame visible to translate that these are three separate exposures. The title is a reference both to Marat / Sade and the theatrical works of the late queer black playwright Sterling Houston.
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entry description
In the midst of quarantine, I decided to embark on my most epic photographic project. Taking inspiration from a novella I had written a few years ago, I designed and built theater sets wherein subjects could pose in isolated photo shoots. These digital composites create panoramas from three separate Mamiya c33 exposures. Each frame includes one subject or a pod, a group of people who have been quarantining together. My lighting designer, Alex H. Payne, and I were the only other people with the space with each subject or group. The negatives were developed by Marc Bruckel. Original paintings by Sage Franz.Conceptually, the series is meant to evoke the narrative of the unpublished novella: a tale of a Spanish casta painter who travels to New Spain on the rumor of mermaids. Each set also includes an enigmatic excerpt of text from the chapter being represented. Inspired also by the New Wave photography of Gered Mankowitz, I was interested in exposing the borders of the set and making the whole production transparent. Furthermore, I kept the borders of the frame visible to translate that these are three separate exposures. The title is a reference both to Marat / Sade and the theatrical works of the late queer black playwright Sterling Houston.
about the photographer
a.r. havel is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Payaya land, San Antonio, Texas. there, in collaboration with radical theater ensemble Jump-Start performance Co. and following the lead of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, he learned a community-activated form of artistic practice. before moving to New Orleans, he studied at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. throughout much of his work, he remains intensely fascinated by the power of queer and radical community resilience. he follows the lead of his grandfather, a professional wedding photographer who gifted him his first camera, a Mamiya 645.back to gallery