Marcel Pardo Ariza

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

In Linda, Lee & Dorsey, Louis (1988~, 2018) Marcela 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.