Dissecting masculinity through the lens of race, gender, and sexuality, New York-based photographer Quil Lemons has developed a distinct visual language informed by his own queer psyche. For his solo exhibition Quiladelphia at New York’s Hannah Traore Gallery, he reflects on the interrogations that direct his image-making, presenting new perspectives on the Black male form and the stereotypes cast upon it.
Showcased as part of the exhibition, in the short film of the same name – a reference to his upbringing in Philadelphia – Lemons discerns masculinity as a kaleidoscope, visualized through moving images. Centering character studies molded by his own shifting sense of masculinity, he poses Quiladelphia as an invitation to viewers to question why and what they see when presented with his image, considering how voices from the queer community have initiated wider reconsideration of the parameters of masculinity among men across its spectrum.
“Quiladelphia spotlights my thoughts on masculinity. My own constantly shifts; it is never fixed and always a question. I wanted to merge the world of my queer family and my biological family, to show that these two distinct worlds can live in harmony and do not have to be separate.”
Giving language to the film’s silent subjects, Lemons layers nuanced visual cues with hyperbolic characterization via intentional colors applied to the sets – purple as an expression of femininity, and yellow as masculinity for its association with the family name passed from his father. Situating his chosen family and birth family in a surreal world of his own creation, Quiladelphia dismantles archetypal ideas of what vulnerability means for the Black man, exploring how understanding and societal expectations have transformed outside the barriers of gender and sexual orientation.
