Transgressive, honest, devastating: the Australian exhibition reframing the male gaze

THE GUARDIAN
By Steve Dow

Liam Benson’s The Terrorist – part of a triptych of self-portraits intended to feminise masculine religious extremism. Photograph: Liam Benson/Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

SYDNEY---The Sadness series is part of The Unflinching Gaze, curated by Perram and now showing at Bathurst Regional Gallery: an extraordinary assemblage of provocative photographs from Australia and overseas, interrogating and celebrating the male figure, and privileging the perspective of same-sex attraction. On the same wall, a triptych of self-portraits by Australia’s Liam Benson show the photo artist playing “crusader”, “executioner” and “terrorist”. In each photo, he wears a see-through, embroidered hood intended to feminise masculine religious extremism. There is a thematic connection between these clear examples of hate carried out under the guise of religion and state authoritarianism, and Yang’s Sadness series depicting a lover’s slow death from Aids-related causes. [More]