Når en mands blik på en mands krop sættes fri

Abstract

With works by Danish artists Niels Nedergaard (1944-1987) and Peter Nansen Scher- fig (b. 1963) and Vietnamese-Danish artist Danh Vo (b. 1975) as point of departure, the text examines how male homosexuality and the understanding of the gay self has been presented in photographs by Danish gay artists. The text uses archive theory by French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) to examine how the artists have used their sexuality to question and break free from the current sociocultural structures within society. Furthermore, the text uses gay studies by French sociologist and writer Didier Eribon (b. 1953) in the examination of the photographs as expressions of gay life. In addi- tion, the text uses Danish gay history to show how Nedergaard’s photos carry traces of a dialogue-based path in the fight for gay rights and elements of gay activism. Finally, the text raises the question if one can speak of a gay writing, an écriture gay, and discusses how the photographs by Nedergaard, Nansen Scherfig and Vo can be understood as examples of such a praxis.