In 1992 Tilda Swinton played the title role in Orlando, a film directed by Sally Potter that was inspired by the novel with the same title written by Virginia Woolf in 1928. Halfway between a biography and an adventure novel, Orlando has been defined as “the longest love letter in history”, since it was inspired by, and dedicated to, the British poet Vita Sackville-West (with whom Woolf had a relationship).
Orlando is an Englishman from a wealthy family that one day wakes up in another century as a woman: here his adventures begin, leading him to travel through the centuries, first playing the role of a nomad who travels with a caravan of gypsies and then of a successful poet who attends high-ranking society as well as prostitutes. Yet, within this story, there is a lucid and clear-cut analysis of gender-related issues in the English societies during which the plot unfolds.
Tilda Swinton, with her androgynous features and inquiring gaze, was able to masterfully interpret this enigmatic figure: a character who embodied the idea of liberating themselves from the constructs of prescriptive gender and social norms. Today, after twenty years, she is revisiting these ideas as the role of guest editor and curator of Aperture’s issue and exhibition Orlando – Based on a Novel by Virginia Wool at the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. The exhibition, which opens today and runs until May 29, explores issues of gender and social expectations, which are so pertinent for the current times. Swinton’s concept brings together the work of eleven artists – a combination of established contemporary works and images by emerging photographers – who challenge dominant power relations and heteronormative ideas. The works do not solely confine themselves to questions of gender but are also a celebration of creativity, openness, curiosity and the diversity of human existence. Thus proving that another way of thinking is possible than those we have been taught.
For several years Artist and fashion photographer Collier Schorr documented the gender transition of Casil McArthur, a model who was assigned the female gender at birth. Schorr, who has always been interested in how the body transforms, focused on the enchanting appeal of his way of modeling which remained constant throughout the transition period. The series of photographs formed the project Untitled (Casil) that comprises different types of images – sometimes playful, sometimes melancholic – blurring the boundaries delimiting gender, sexuality and identity.
LA-based trans-multimedia artist Zackary Drucker portrays Rosalyne Blumenstein – who transitioned at 16 and went on to become director of the Gender Identity Project at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Community Center in New York. Drucker regarded her as a “foremother” who embodies many layers (even conflicting layers) in which a person can coexist.
Photographer and artist Carmen Winant took a cue from her archive and past used images from her works as a student in university, showing her bare chest streaked with red lines, and self-inflicted scratches made in the shower, in conjunction with images she had already previously found that depicted Orlando and various love interests over the centuries. She used both sets of images and rephotographed them together without the certainty that they could have been useful for the project, and just focused on the pleasure of relating to images. The result was a series of artworks where two images are assembled together like implausible lovers.
Photographer and artist Jamal Nxedlana, fascinated by the areas of intersection between fashion and street culture in Johannesburg, South Africa, documents the performance of duo FAKA – Fela Gucci and Desire Marea – who fight for the visibility of Black queer identities. He styled FAKA with clothes that resist as any binary assignment and represent ‘a stand against the social ideas of gender, race and class’.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya stages a scene that is described on the first page of Orlando. This scene depicts Orlando playing with a shrunken-head trophy of an unnamed colonial campaign in Africa, suspended from the attic rafters of his ancestral home. This shocking image sparked the images realized by Sepuya, where he elusively appears, hiding behind his camera in a reflection, in a shadow or at the edge of the frame, almost escaping from the rectangular cage of the image. When approaching Orlando, it is immediate to think about questions of gender and sexuality, overlooking the entire legacy upon which Orlando s name and home and lineage are built upon. Sepuya’s images were shot in Florida while participating in a residency sponsored by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and they shed light on the colonial and violent aspects behind the story of Orlando.
Other featured artists are Lynn Hershman Leeson, Elle Prez, Walter Pfeiffer, Sally Potter, Viviane Sassen and Mickalene Thomas.
