Bruce LaBruce on art, porn and queer sex work
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by Leslie-Lohman Museum
As historian George Chauncey noted in his 1994 book Gay New York, before the word “gay” was used to describe homosexuality, it was common parlance for a sex worker. It’s a telling reminder of how long these historically marginalised communities have been intertwined.
In the new exhibition, On Our Backs: The Revolutionary Art of Queer Sex Work, curator Alexis Heller brings together the work of LGBTQ sex workers, activists, and allies. The featured art responds to issues of HIV/AIDS, immigration, labour, housing, racial justice, gender, community healing and liberation.
Although sex work has always been a large part of queer culture, its significance is often diminished or erased. “It’s always interesting and fascinating the way prostitution is portrayed in the mainstream and in movies,” says filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, who will be exhibiting Refugees Welcome, a new short film made in Berlin three years ago, at the museum in a peep show style environment.
“It’s rare for characters who are prostitutes or hustlers to be represented in a way other than as disposable, criminal or marginalised. Maybe Hustlers will change that, but I’m sure that’s in a completely capitalist context. People think they can take over the system and become the powerful ones, without changing the system whatsoever.”
Patrick Angus, Hanky Panky, 1980. Courtesy of the Estate of Patrick Angus Collection of the Leslie-Lohman Museum
Leon Mostovoy. Market Street Cinema series 1987-88. Courtesy of the artist and ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
For LaBruce, the path into pornography was an organic one. “My first significant boyfriend was a male prostitute who was gay for pay so it was a strange relationship,” he recalls. “I put him in some of my short movies and wrote my first feature film, That’s No Skin Off My Ass, based on him. I had my next boyfriend play him.”
On Our Backs is about more than art, culture, and industry – it’s about community and communion. Featuring works by Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz and Pluma Sumaq, among others, the exhibition takes its name from the seminal lesbian erotic magazine founded in the United States in the ’80s. The title also refers to the fact that the LGBTQ community has long been leading the fight for the rights of all sex workers.
“As a pornographer, I consider myself part of being in the sex trade industry,” says LaBruce. “I performed sexually in my first several films, so I consider myself a porn actor as well. I have always expressed solidarity with sex trade workers. All these professions that people look down their noses on are the people I have identified with.”
Xandra Ibarra. Tapatio Cock (2004) Courtesy of the artist.
Bruce LaBruce. Refugee’s Welcome (film still) 2017. Courtesy of the artist
Juniper Fleming. Bar at Folies Bergère, 2015/2018. Courtesy of the artist © Juniper Fleming
Efrain John Gonzalez. Little West 12th Street, 1986/2019. Courtesy of the artist
Ms. Naughty. Dear Jiz (video still #1) 2013. Courtesy of BrightDesire.com
James Romberger, Marguerite Van Cook, and David Wojnarowicz. Untitled (print from 7 Miles a Second) 1996/2019. Courtesy of the artists and Ground Zero Books
On Our Backs: The Revolutionary Art of Queer Sex Work is on view at the Leslie-Lohman Museum in New York, September 28, 2019-January 19, 2020.
Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
Palestine Action ban ruling set for Supreme Court appeal
Final stand — Founder Huda Ammori has won permission to challenge the Court of Appeal’s verdict, which upheld the group’s proscription as a ‘terror organisation’.
Written by: Ella Glossop
The art of paying attention: How Austria’s Alps reward slowing down
Lebensgefühl — With a growing movement of art and music rooted in the area’s mountains, trees and waterfalls, the region is showcasing the importance of the human relationship to nature.
Written by: Sophie Lou Wilson
Queer resistance & sun-soaked solidarity at the world’s largest trans pride march
Our Future, Our Fight — Over the weekend, over 150,000 people marched at the London Trans+ Pride, with the parade ending at Trafalgar Square for the first time in history.
Written by: Ella Glossop
Inside Parkuir: the art project queering sport, space and our bodies
Lie and play — Founded by Maria Laudes and Guiu Gimeno, it provides a framework for engaging, subverting, and celebrating the small details that make people unique – and queer.
Written by: Molly Lipson
A major Nan Goldin exhibition is coming to London
You Never Did Anything Wrong — Opening at the Hayward Gallery in November, the show will debut a new film from the artist and activist, alongside a slate of recent work.
Written by: Jack Dennison-Thompson
Tender portraits of women serving life sentences in America
Looking Inside — While working as a public defender attorney in New York State, Sara Bennett found dilapidated prisons and forgotten people. Her new photobook harnesses the power of images and shines a humanising light on those imprisoned for serious crimes and their reintegration into society, while asking questions of the USA’s incarceration system.
Written by: Miss Rosen
