Family Portrait is a photographic installation composed of two interrelated triptychs. The first depicts close-up views of three anuses—mine and my parents’—while the second shows our nude bodies in the posture in which the close-up photographs were taken.
This work is informed by Paul Preciado’s Countersexual Manifesto, which identifies the anus as a site of queer potential, highlighting three key characteristics. Firstly, like the mouth, the anus is a “universal” erogenous zone—everyone has one. Secondly, the anus holds no heterocentric value, as it is not tied to reproduction. Lastly, the anus is not traditionally regarded as a source of pleasure; instead, it is often deemed “shameful.” These traits position it as a powerful site for rethinking gender and sexuality.
After years of research, discussion, and preparation, my parents and I collaborated on this project, creating a family portrait that embraces the taboo. Challenging traditional hierarchies in both photographic and familial roles, I photographed their anuses, and they photographed mine. Small prints of all three anuses are displayed in a movable installation, allowing viewers to rearrange their order. Corresponding large-scale prints depict each of us from the side, atop shipping crates, excluding our faces and genitals.
By centering the anus as a site for questioning normative understandings, this work embraces the body as an object and queers the family portrait.
