A Well Made Man -Comparing Heroic Views of the Colonial Male

While  travelling  in the USA  in July and August 2017 I have begun a new series that is a tribute to Walt Whitman

But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face, 

It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists, 

It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees, dress does not hide him, 

The strong sweet quality he has strikes through the cotton and broadcloth, 

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more, 

You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side. 

from the Body Electric poem 

Recently I have found out that Australia’S equivalent to Walt Whitman the colonial bush poet Henry Lawson had an intimate relationship with a young man that he writes about with great tenderness. Henry Lawson Queer Hero  

I have found a way to compare and contrast homoerotic views of the colonial male across to countries USA and Australia and in doing so explore the nature  of freedom and equality and our queer birthright to both
My art work will also celebrate the centrality of the queer perspective to notions of masculinity in both countries. There is also an opportunity to link with my long running exploration of freedom in the Eureka series Stars of Eureka Dreaming

Here is a picture of Henry Lawson circa 1900

and  a quote from his journal  

"For my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways / And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low; / I'm at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know."


and one of Walt Whitman circa 1890

 My first shoot in the USA in 2017 was in a barn in Pennsylvania  with local worker Ray.

 

I then approached a guy  living in Brooklyn -we ended up shooting in his  apartment (Walt Whitman lived in Brooklyn and wrote about it in his poetry

As part of this process I am looking at more gritty less perfected idealism about the male figure. I am  enjoying the real grounding hairiness of this model.

I went back to the USA in July 2018 and hope to return in 2019

 Please Contact me on eurekacommunity@gmail.com if you want to model for this series in the USA or Australia
I am also looking for a curator with a background in Colonial or New World gender studies and galleries in Australia or the USA interested in showing the work