Rowan Pritchard
Still image from video, AI generated moving image and mirrors
2021
Influenced by José Esteban Muñoz’s Cruising Utopia, this piece creates space where queer utopia can be glimpsed in the present. Based on imagery of queer dancing from TV and film, the piece explores the freedom, pleasure, and importance of dancing and nightlight within queer culture, abstracting the images using artificial intelligence to capture the slippery essence of a queer future. Refracting these images, the infinite possibilities of a queer utopia are hinted at, as well the constant need to push towards a queer horizon. The image of the triangle within the work furthers these ideas, reflecting the queer reclamation of the pink triangle, and queerness as an act of resistance. Expansive and elusive, the piece creates space in the here and now that centres queer pleasure, and where queerness is not othered. That’s what this photo does, I hope. The man with the ball strolls through the pitches behind Peel Park, and for one moment – you could tell – everything around him melted away. He just wanted to play football. This isn’t a 6-year-old, but a fully grown adult. It was wonderful.
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