Place informs identity through defining boundaries and shaping interactions with others. Failure to adhere to the institutional values of exclusive sites causes acute distress to those excluded. Social and cultural standards integrate into the composition and use of community places. The theory of social constructionism asserts identity as dependent on the discourses surrounding it. Utilizing a constructionist lens, these visual works explore the ostracization of queer persons in public locations. Evaluating those who exist outside normalized social and sexual cultures, these narrative photographs highlight communicated messages of systematic oppression. Lavender-toned black and white images associate contemporary gay and queer identities to the McCarthy-era Lavender Scare, a time when homosexuals were publicly deemed a threat to social and national securities. Public community places remain contested for sexual minorities, due in part to moral panics established during this campaign. The artist’s work created in response utilizes common locations integral to his experience, borrowed phrases, and the symbiotic relationship between language and identity.
