Kyle Meyer

Kyle Meyer

(b. Ashland, Ohio 1985)
Lives and works in New York, NY

Unidentified 61, 2018, archival pigment print hand woven with wax print paper

Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman

In an act of solidarity with his subject, Kyle Meyer is interested in the dignity and humanity of those who are discriminated against and in this work (part of a larger series) specifically, self-identified gay men in Southern Africa. In large-scale singular portraits, images of men gaze out to the viewer, simultaneously concealed and revealed for who they are, in a place where homosexuality is still illegal and criminalized. His lone subjects are marginalized, threatened, and often rendered invisible (unseen) or alternatively as abhorrent (when seen) by many in their community.  Myer seeks to remove them from this context, if only momentarily, but frozen in a larger-than-life portrait, that represents both a fragmented, pieced together self and a heroic, confident musing gaze of their own creating. Identity is but a construct, based on who is writing the narrative.  Working collaboratively with his subjects, who largely have to hide their sexuality, he recognizes their vulnerability as individuals without constitutional protections made complicated by individual desire and wanting cultural recognition. The subject participates in his expression, in a uniquely fashioned headdress made from traditional African wax-print fabric, appearing regal, posing Modernity without having modern human rights afforded him. Meyer photographs the men and then, using the actual fabric they wear, weaves a second portrait within a portrait. This work, part of a larger series entitled Interwoven and is a bold wordplay about being whole, integral, and woven into one's community, yet fragmented, torn apart, and not seen for who one is. The pattern, color, geometry and eloquent craft of the weft and warp of photo and fabric is visually hypnotic and reverberates; a telling contradiction inexplicably intertwined, identity as a construct.