Within the Hannah Traore Gallery lies the exploratory exhibition Quiladelphia produced by photographer Quil Lemons: an intimate and retrospective glimpse into Lemons’ eyes behind the lens.
This series, running till November 4, explores the boundaries of gender and sexuality through Lemons’ perspective as a Black queer man. Through tender representations of the Black male form, the pictures flirt with fantasy whilst interrogating Lemons’ own reality - true to his intimate photographic style.
A collection of images featuring faces from the course of his life, Lemon puts queerness at the forefront of his work, and highlights the vast plethora of identities and natures present in his personal life. A sort of exploration of what ‘chosen family’ means to the artist, Quiladelphia explores the raw and extraordinary relationships he has formed throughout his existence.
At odds with a religious upbringing in a Black American household, these playful, intimate images equate to a kind of self-acceptance of all that sexuality and gender have come to mean for Lemons. Peeking through these images are subtle touches of leather, hints of suggestive lace, but all coated in a softness that Lemon portrays excellently.
