Queer artist, activist and photographer Del LaGrace Volcano presented never-seen-before work from their archives at an event for Queer@King’s on 17 February.
Volcano is the creator of iconic work about queer cultural moments from the last 50 years, having produced six photographic monographs and exhibited around the world. Their work demonstrates the importance of visual culture in charting queer history and how art functions as a form of resistance.
At Del LaGrace Volcano and The Queer (F***ing) Archive of Resistance (1974-2024), Volcano navigated their extensive photography archive, showing photos that have never been viewed before beyond the ‘decisive moment’.
Volcano’s work is informed in part by their lived experiences of love and lust and completely informed by a tenacious resistance to the demands of heteronormativity. Their approach to representing gender and sexuality is by turns playful and by turns erotic – sometimes it’s both of these at once.
Dr Zeena Feldman, Director of Queer@King’s
I was born making trouble. Not just gender trouble, but all kinds of trouble – good trouble, necessary trouble.
Del LaGrace Volcano
Volcano follows a queer feminist methodology and aims to make work with people, rather than taking work from them. They do not want to be 'a trafficker in queer bodies', believe that the personal is political, and the process – based on care, collaboration and connection – is as important as the product.
Their photographs act as a record of the experiences of the queer community. One of the photos shown at the event was of a teacher, who was unable to come out at the time because of Section 28 – this photo session offered them a safer outlet to express their identity.
Queer bodies are bodies that don’t matter. Bodies that are disposable and often disowned. Bodies that are not valued or valuable. Sometimes not even by those of us who inhabit them. Bodies that through the simple act of existence have come to personify resistance. If bodies are sites of anything, then queer bodies are sites where the resistance is most fertile.
Del LaGrace Volcano
Volcano favours the process of hand colouring their photographs. They also like to work with twins or doubling in their work, frequently choosing to collaborate with people who share their birthday.
Del LaGrace Volcano in front of one of their photographs, which was removed from promotional posters. (Image: Sarah McLaughlin)Their own life intertwines inseparably with their work. Starting with their childhood in the United States, Volcano explored how they became radicalised by the restrictions of being assigned female at birth, such as being unable to become a newspaper delivery person or apply for certain scholarships as these opportunities were only for boys. Photography became a way of healing the wounds that capitalism, patriarchy and life inflict on female-bodied people and usurping the pressure to feel attractive.
I understood from a very young age that the world is an especially hostile place for those of us assigned female at birth – and maybe even more so for those assigned female after birth.
Del LaGrace Volcano
Their work began to achieve more mainstream success in the 1990s and 2000s, including featuring in an episode of Sex and the City.
Volcano shares their photos of actor Kim Cattrall. The photos were featured in an episode of Sex and the City, which gave an unexpected 'mainstream kudos' to their work. (Image: Sarah McLaughlin)Volcano touched on the ethical practices they use to make their work, such as attempts to decolonise their language. They aim to take the violence out of photography, as it has been used as a weapon of patriarchy, imperialism and oppression, particularly towards people with different bodies. They highlighted the importance of naming the people in their work, rather than leaving them as nameless figures.
When I’m preparing photos for an exhibition or to be seen, the people in the images are with me on a molecular level as it's an intimate process. My work is interventionist and physical and sometimes dangerous, so people really need to be onboard and it requires a lot of discussion.
Del LaGrace Volcano
During the audience Q&A, Volcano revealed what they hope to achieve by releasing their archive at this current time. They want to encourage other people to make work about their own communities, see it as a form of activism, and value themselves in a way Volcano didn’t value their own work, body or self.
Volcano also shared that they are working on a series of memoirs alongside preparing their archive and has a new book, Queer Dyke Cruising, featuring previously unpublished photographs.
The talk and Q&A were followed by a screening of Volcano’s short film Pansexual Public Porn.
To learn more about Volcano's thoughts on their work and legacy, read their Q&A with Dr Feldman.
