Giving Voice to a Silenced LGBTQ Community

"Unidentified 119, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 90" x 60" (228.5 x 152.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Unidentified Couple 5, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 54” x 36” (137 x 91.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Unidentified 101, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 54” x 36” (137 x 91.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Unidentified 115, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 90 3/4" x 60" (230.5 x 152.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Unidentified 84, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 54” x 36” (137 x 91.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Unidentified 93, 2018" by Kyle Meyer. Archival Pigment Print Hand Woven with Wax Print Fabric. Approximately 54” x 36” (137 x 91.5 cm) © Kyle Meyer, Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

An exhibition of artworks woven from photographic prints and fabric is currently on view at Yossi Milo Gallery.

Made by Kyle Meyer, who has worked between eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and New York City since 2009, the portraits in Interwoven infuse digital photography with traditional Swazi crafts and give voice to silenced members of eSwatini’s LGBT community. “Tension between the necessity of the individuals to hide their queerness for basic survival and their desire to express themselves openly inform both the subject and the means of fabricating Meyer’s unique works,” writes the gallery in a statement.

Each piece in the show comes from a labor intensive process that takes days to weeks to complete. The subjects, all of which are men, first select a colorful head wrap to wear (traditionally worn by women in eSwatini). Meyer then produces a large-scale print of the portrait and hand-shreds the photograph and the fabric from the head wrap. Next, he weaves the strips of photo and fabric together, and with the final portrait he presents each man’s individuality and beauty while the fabric acts a screen to protect his identity.

Interwoven
By Kyle Meyer
Yossi Milo Gallery
Through December 8, 2018

Tracing Intimacy in LGBTQ Communities
The Gays Next Door
Open to the World
Examining Technology Through Colorful Collages