Flags, 2025
Paint on satin fabric, tape, aluminum frame

Reclaiming misogynist and queerphobic slurs. Unapologetic, direct and punchy. The gritty industrial patina of the repurposed frames alludes to harsh realities, or to a specific texture of queer embodiment. In an era of rising intolerance toward deviant identities, with puritan algorithmic power smoothing the social into vanilla pudding, it's pretty hard to get by without getting dented.

Yet I find something sensual in the worn-out metallic surface, in its conversation with the subtle drape of the satin fabric. Between resilience and grace. Inspired by Heidegger’s essay The Question Concerning Technology (1954), this work gestures toward a tribal aesthetic that constitutes first and foremost an act of resistance against modern alienation. In the age of machinic subjectivation, the techno queer emerges as a counter-model, romantic cyborg faithful to its complex humanity.

The font in use is a custom stencil typeface derived from British railway signage. Beyond representing identificatory markers within the style of industrial modernity, this detail arguably points to the paradoxical nature of the gay movement, once emancipatory surge against the militarist culture of post-war USA, now increasingly co-opted as a vector of cultural imperialism. While fiercely pushing the wagons of liberal progress, it's always worth to reflect on what we carry with us.

My background in typography is a precious asset in the development of my philosophical work on language and technique. Words are performative spells, and their shaping always bears the mark of ideology. In a way, these works carry a certain disenchantment, or resignation for the mode of being primed by the international style, sans-serif character. Lingering baggage of my Western upbringing?

Finally, the tape accents evoke a semiotic language of technique, or a pragmatic approach to healing. Beneath the fierce veneer of these minoritarian archetypes lie countless wounds which, in our accelerationist era, too often get superficially treated for lack of time and resources.