ALLURING, MELANCHOLY AND BEAUTIFUL

Queer Sensibilities and Neo-Baroque Aesthetic in Contemporary Photography

Abstract

This study examines queer sensibilities as they emerge in the photographic oeuvres of Severo Sarduy (Cuba, 1937-1993), Pedro Lemebel (Chile, 1952-2015), Alair Gomes (Brazil, 1921-1991) and Hudinilson Junior (Brazil, 1957-2013). In doing so, we consider in the images what can be seen as queer baroque. Within beauty, mystery and seduction, we find queer affect that revisits not only the baroque, but the neo-baroque in its aesthetic dimension. What the photographs transmit are performative overflows that emulate in the bodies ways of refusing social conventions. When working with sensitivity, we touch the images through affective interaction, and we realize how the body can be read by desire.