The work in this show was initially inspired by a book about loggers in the early 20th-century pacific Northwest. The book – which led to several others about the lumber industry – included a focus on sexual relationships between timbermen in remote work camps and urban rooming houses. This body of work started out with specific references but shortly widened to a broader examination. This included a particular exploration of the kind of men who are drawn to a transient life of hard, physical labor deep in the forest, as well as the pursuit of sexual outlet that happens in the exclusive company of other men.
Unnatural Desire in Natural Settings highlights the potential of a rebel queer consciousness flourishing in woodland settings far from the puritanical constraints of “civilized” society. The tongue-in-cheek title evokes a “what happens in the woods, stays in the woods” attitude towards acts of sodomy – at once inevitable and forbidden – among woodsmen under a canopy of tall conifers or on bunkhouse mattresses made of balsam boughs. In this theme, I explore various paradoxes of the queer male sex drive, like those found in the woods: at once rough and tender, natural and synthetic, calm and chaotic, rigid and yielding, quiet and cacophonous, historic and contemporary.
Within the cliched but potent theme of gay lumberjacks, I have explored aspects of my sexuality that have taken a lifetime to fully understand and articulate. The work in this series offers a shameless and unapologetic boldness that counterweights my own internalized homophobia and tendency to hold back. By expressing difficult-to-share private thoughts and desires, I can hopefully spark a dialogue about queer sexuality that will move beyond taboo to a place of acceptance and celebration. It is in this spirit that I stand beside my work, confront my own awkward hesitation and anticipate new and brave conversations.
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