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Take My Image is a wealthy doc of Eighties Black homosexual Chicago, curated by Juarez Hawkins. Lengthy earlier than the selfie phenomenon, a younger Patric McCoy traveled round Chicago on his bicycle, at all times along with his digicam. Over a 10-year interval, he shot hundreds of photos of Black males who requested to have their footage taken. The Rialto Faucet fed McCoy’s muse. The South Loop bar was one of many few locations the place Black males might socialize with, and seduce, different Black males. From drag queens to downtown professionals, the Rialto packed in males from all walks of life, offering a gradual stream of topics for McCoy and his digicam.
All through the 80s, HIV/AIDS hit Black males particularly laborious. Hundreds would die earlier than the tip of the last decade, together with lots of McCoy’s mates, lovers, and topics. Take My Image turns into much more vital as a marker of place, time, and reminiscence. McCoy supposed to meet an unstated want for Black males to be seen.
Within the following query excerpted from his interview with Wrightwood 659, McCoy displays on his work:
Q: You mentioned you didn’t notice there was such a starvation for black males to be photographed. The place do you assume that need got here from?
McCoy: Effectively, it’s endemic. I feel each particular person has a starvation to be depicted in a recognizable and optimistic mild. Folks need to see themselves and be represented. That’s why we go to museums to take a look at photos. They assist us mirror on who we’re. The broader white society has had centuries of their photos being represented and projected as vital. However African Individuals — we haven’t a protracted historical past of such; it’s actually form of new.
Take My Image is one in all three exhibitions on view at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago by way of July 15.
For extra data, go to wrightwood659.org.
Exhibitions are introduced by Alphawood Exhibitions at Wrightwood 659.
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