This is a repeating event10/27/2023 10:00 am
OFFERINGS, Leather Pride Photoshow by Steven Miller
Event Details
Offerings, by Steven Miller
PHOTOSHOW OF BURNING GAY PORN
October 26 - November 6, 2023
The gallery will be open 10 am to 6 pm Monday - Saturday and 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday.
Meet the Artist: Sat, Nov 4th, 12-6pm
From Steven Miller:
As a 19-year-old in the late 80s struggling with my sexuality, I was conflicted about the small collection of porn magazines I had surreptitiously collected behind the backs of my parents.
The magazines contained pictures of naked men and stories of college boys having gay sex and, one night in a fit of shame and disappointment, I started a backyard fire and threw in each magazine one by one. I hoped this sacrifice would rid me of my deviant behavior.
But as I watched the images of naked men crisping on the edges before their features were swallowed whole by the flames, I knew I had made a mistake. I knew nothing was going to change internally, and soon regretted the burning, as all of my connections to a world of gay freedom were gone.
Decades later I joined a friend for an outdoor fire at his home. Retreating inside for kindling, he soon returned with old porn magazines to toss in the fire. Immediately the memories of my teenage purge came to mind.
As an artist I needed to recreate that past ritual act, revisiting my childhood sexuality and shame. These are offerings to all the men who shared their sexual freedom in print without shame, these are offerings to remember all those we lost to AIDS, and these are offerings to desires that refuse be extinguished.
Lastly, many thanks to friends who dug out their old porn magazines and allowed me bring them "to light" one last time.
– Steven Miller, 2023
