untitled lover, 2026 (cotton embroidery & SX-70 Polaroid)
Sex with Ghosts is a group of photographic experiments using instant photography and photographic embroideries to explore communion with not-here lovers. Sex here means erotic attention, embodied solidarity, offerings to queer ancestors, and recognition of my own sexual mortality. By ghosts I mean memories, dreams, griefs, belief in my own future ghostness, and reveries of queer people, passed, real, imagined, and not-yet-here.
Artist Statement: In September of 2024, my partner Alex succumbed to suicide at the age of 34. This presentation is, and is not, about Alex’ death. Is: my grief is deep and this work is an attempt, a feeble, inefficient, pitiful attempt, to move through my specific and all-consuming grief. Is not: queer grief is the experience of attempting to survive despite living in a world which does not treat our existence as legible (we are ghosts). It has never been my intention to tell the story of Alex’ life or death through my work; indeed, it is his story to tell. I wish to present my grief, or these distortions of my grief, as a gift which may help us to learn how to survive.
Imagery in this body of work documents the appearance of ghosts. Ghosts appear as the waters of the body, and as bodies of water. Ghosts appear as reflections and shadows on living skin and dead skin. Ghosts appear as reflections and refractions through glass and on water. Ghosts appear as they consume flowers of condolence with decay. Ghosts appear on the sheets of empty beds after lovers have parted. Ghosts appear on the flat surfaces of over- and under-exposed Polaroids, gently reflecting distorted visions of ourselves. These ghosts are present in the quotidian and the extraordinary, throughout the unceasing advancement of queer time. These ghosts need our attention.
The combination of the instant and the slow has been my obsessive focus since I started working with embroidery and instant photography in 2022. In this body of work, I am experiencing a revelation about the meanings of this gesture: 1) memory creates distortions of time, 2) I exist in queer time (roughly defined as liberation from heteronormative constructs of time), and 3) I wish to make objects which complicate (queer) the experience of time. I am currently influenced by the idea that time exists on a continuum from the waters of the body to the deceptive eternality of oceans and rivers. “Sex with Ghosts” measures time this way: sex here is marking the spontaneous and ephemeral appearance of these waters, and ghosts are the accumulation of these waters throughout time, together.
Works: This project will culminate in no less than 24 individual artworks intended to be shown as a solo presentation. Each work is framed at 10.5” x 10.5” or 10” x 13”. Works can be wall mounted or exhibited flat on shelves or pedestals. A narrative order to the works will be supplied, though this work is flexible to curatorial input. Work samples in this proposal represent both completed works and works in progress (where noted*).
Programming: Besides opening receptions, I wish to engage with community whenever possible around the work. Strategies for engagement include: general artist talk, artist talk with students, small and medium sized exhibition tours, published video of talks and tours, published exhibition catalogues, live podcast recordings, and hosting informal gatherings for community. This exhibition coincides with the publication of my inaugural book (Instant Gratification, 2026) for which a book release party could activated at the host gallery.
Timeframe: This solo presentation will be complete and available to show on or after June 13, 2026.
Artist Statement: In September of 2024, my partner Alex succumbed to suicide at the age of 34. This presentation is, and is not, about Alex’ death. Is: my grief is deep and this work is an attempt, a feeble, inefficient, pitiful attempt, to move through my specific and all-consuming grief. Is not: queer grief is the experience of attempting to survive despite living in a world which does not treat our existence as legible (we are ghosts). It has never been my intention to tell the story of Alex’ life or death through my work; indeed, it is his story to tell. I wish to present my grief, or these distortions of my grief, as a gift which may help us to learn how to survive.
Imagery in this body of work documents the appearance of ghosts. Ghosts appear as the waters of the body, and as bodies of water. Ghosts appear as reflections and shadows on living skin and dead skin. Ghosts appear as reflections and refractions through glass and on water. Ghosts appear as they consume flowers of condolence with decay. Ghosts appear on the sheets of empty beds after lovers have parted. Ghosts appear on the flat surfaces of over- and under-exposed Polaroids, gently reflecting distorted visions of ourselves. These ghosts are present in the quotidian and the extraordinary, throughout the unceasing advancement of queer time. These ghosts need our attention.
The combination of the instant and the slow has been my obsessive focus since I started working with embroidery and instant photography in 2022. In this body of work, I am experiencing a revelation about the meanings of this gesture: 1) memory creates distortions of time, 2) I exist in queer time (roughly defined as liberation from heteronormative constructs of time), and 3) I wish to make objects which complicate (queer) the experience of time. I am currently influenced by the idea that time exists on a continuum from the waters of the body to the deceptive eternality of oceans and rivers. “Sex with Ghosts” measures time this way: sex here is marking the spontaneous and ephemeral appearance of these waters, and ghosts are the accumulation of these waters throughout time, together.
Works: This project will culminate in no less than 24 individual artworks intended to be shown as a solo presentation. Each work is framed at 10.5” x 10.5” or 10” x 13”. Works can be wall mounted or exhibited flat on shelves or pedestals. A narrative order to the works will be supplied, though this work is flexible to curatorial input. Work samples in this proposal represent both completed works and works in progress (where noted*).
Programming: Besides opening receptions, I wish to engage with community whenever possible around the work. Strategies for engagement include: general artist talk, artist talk with students, small and medium sized exhibition tours, published video of talks and tours, published exhibition catalogues, live podcast recordings, and hosting informal gatherings for community. This exhibition coincides with the publication of my inaugural book (Instant Gratification, 2026) for which a book release party could activated at the host gallery.
Timeframe: This solo presentation will be complete and available to show on or after June 13, 2026.
| Exhibition Proposal PDF |
