Using vintage gay publications that span the post Stonewall Riots through the height of the AIDS crisis, I omit the overt sexual content of erotic centerfolds, instead focusing on the small details of these images that I collage and appropriate. The landscape, featured prominently in my work acts as a silent witness to the bodies that once occupied these queer spaces. They are stand-in memorials for not just the models cropped on the pages but for those who originally consumed their imagery. I have created softer, intimate and more vulnerable representations of men that challenge our ideas around masculinity. It’s allowed me a way to see my own identity as a gay man through their likeness. This way of working has had multiple threads of exploration over the years. Initially starting out as an archival document the work has progressed conceptually to creating large scale photo based installations. These methods of inquiry have given me the language and understanding of how these images can function.

Pacifico Silano