Artist Statement
The core of my artistic practice is to transform photographs of queer individuals into objects that speculate upon sexuality. Homosocial- the project I created to guide this artistic practice- is a process of collecting and creating photographs of homosocial couples and individuals. With these images, I create reliquaries and portrait miniatures with them.
One facet of Homosocial is a historical, religious enterprise: with computer-guided machines, I create mat board and paper reliquaries to transform my homosocial photographs into reverential objects.
Reliquaries are specially-designed containers that enshrine sacred objects, or relics. For the LA Center of Photography, I have created a four-sided reliquary with four images, which I call a Carousel Reliquary. A kinetic sculpture, the reliquary slowly spins around to reveal each homosocial couple, all confidently looking at the camera.
My other facet of Homosocial is creating life-sized portrait miniatures. This facet is called A Lile Queer, in which I’ve photographed myself patterned after 16th century English portrait miniatures.
Portrait miniatures of the past were painted gilt little treasures circulated by an elite circle of courtiers in Europe. In contrast, my portrait miniatures are public-oriented treasures.
In my piece Portrait Miniature of Helping Out a Queer I wear 16th century garb and gender-defying clothes to emphasize my queerness. In the miniature, I pose holding hands with a hand coming from divine-like clouds. This celestial handshake is an oering of peace from above, and is also comforting for me as the sitter.
This composition borrows from a 16th century Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature. While the owner of the hand in the Hilliard miniature is unknown, the hand in my composition is my sister’s hand. She is an instrumental person in my life and has helped me on numerous occasions. I made sure it was her hand that would be oering me help from above.
I fabricate these reliquaries and portrait miniatures to show to viewers the permanence of homosocial and queer people in history. By appreciating this past, my work envisions a future in which all people can value and embrace the beauty of homosociality and queer identity.
Bio
Homosocial is a multimedia project created by Brian Van Camerik. The project is a collection of found photographs of homosocial images that guide Van Camerik’s artistic practice. As principal artist for the project, Van Camerik works in a variety of media, from mat board sculptures constructed into reliquaries to contemporary photography. These objects are all meant to enshrine the images Van Camerik has collected and created for Homosocial.
Van Camerik earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with honors in 2014. In 2014, he was recipient of the Henry Schiedt Memorial Travel Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He and Homosocial are currently based in the LA area.