Couples

Each decade brings a new cause for the queer movement, with gay marriage being the defining struggle in my generation. I started the 'Couples' project after exploring my own views of gay marriage and how it affected how I saw my relationship. I realized my desire to be accepted by the mainstream community overshadowed the possibility of pursuing my own notion of family. The Couples project is a result of this exploration of self, image, and relationships. With gay marriage being legal in only six U.S. states, queer couples balance committed relationships within a system of inequality. Because queer couples have been thrust into a position of being a political statement, the struggle for general acceptance and exploration of variations of family life is overshadowed by the wish to gain the right to marry. Yes, equality is important, but in pursuing the right to marry, are queer couples giving up something else? In creating these images, I invoked classical family portraiture, with stylized poses and varying backgrounds. I recreated my own version of studio family portraiture, allowing these couples to celebrate their relationships, while also questioning the idea of blending in to the whole.