Michael Foucault expresses the history of homosexuality as a medical invention developed to define deviant sexual behavior during the 19th century, prior to this sexuality was explored and expressed openly and was not concealed in the ‘parents bedroom’ for the soul purpose of heterosexual procreation. The state and church defined homosexuality as an unnatural abomination that threatened the purity and strength of the homogenous, white dominating race. If unnatural how can one explain its presence throughout time? It is my opinion that choice of sexual object is both a product of environmental factors and genetic chemistry that goes beyond an element of choice. Anything that falls short of the heteronormative standard is classified as ‘other’ and it is the imperial powers that govern our existence that use fear to control any deviant behaviors that rebel the illusory status quo. Hegel’s master/ slave dialect suggests that one must turn the ‘other’ into an object, in order to enslave him and control him. This process of objectification came to justify the mistreatment of bodies that resisted the heteronormative standard. The process of classifying and marking difference creates a platform of violence in the misunderstanding of opposing beliefs. Initially my project aimed at breaking down the barriers of sexual difference to express the similarities between homosexual and heterosexual relationships by manipulating the notion of desire surrounding the body. I then decided to work with the notion of objectification by sexualizing everyday objects and activities, activities that arguably span over a majority of cultural practices. By using objects I attempt to subvert the notion of objectification whilst simultaneously suggesting object fetishism (which can be linked to sexual desire). My video installations are meant to attract and repel, seduce and disturb my viewers. By destroying the commonly accepted notion of desire, I hope to free homosexual identity from the shackles of marked difference and dismantle the fear surrounding homosexual relations as well as other sexual behaviors that resist the status quo. I want to place my viewers in the position of ‘peeping Tom’ by making them intrude on an arguably privatized spaces, this can account for their format and display. As originally exhibited, each video was displayed separately and simultaneously on small 30 x 20mm screens enclosed in 5 separate objects . Each video is titled from left to right as follows: Grab Me, Poke Me, Stroke Me, Strip Me and Feel Me.
