Carl Euegene

Carl Euegene was born in Alexandria, Louisiana; he received his degree from McNeese State University. Carl merges the idea of countering social stigmas and the idea relationships among people in American society, in and out of the studio. Relationships require an enormous amount of time and effort to understand. He is drawn to every person he comes into contact with. The energy between them is interchangeable; he feels unguarded sometimes for personal reasons, and the sentiment that is transferred from the person or thing causes them to vibe together. Sometimes, it lasts for only an instant; then he gains their trust to take a photograph of them. Even without words, on occasion, is he able to come into people’s space and develop a relationship. The minds and gestures of the spirits of people interest him, and the desire of relationships between people gives him purpose to define its dynamic meaning. Recently, his father died. This circumstance causes him to value a human presence. Throughout his undergraduate career, he has photographed many people, and learned much. However, he has taken on a new voice with his clothes series!

Christianity, sacrifice, male standards of society, politics and relationships are ideas in flux in my images. They constitute a soundless rebut that questions how men ought to display affection between one another. These elusive images indicate my attempt to unveil dejected spirits of benevolent men who are afraid of scrutiny by some conservative southern men because of love and make sense of the disapproval of male on male affection. Southern

men’s perversions and biases of love aid as a negative motivating force for me to give an account of intimate relationships between men; relationships disconnected from homosexuality in the manner of personification.

Worn and discarded clothing serves as a vehicle for expression, signifying a transition of time that represents situations created from my imagination and past experiences. Clothing takes the shape of a person’s body, alluding to the ideas of inhabitation and possession. The clothing in my images creates ambiguous forms to conceal physical attributes of men. The personified forms seem to be in a state of dubiety in obscure places, conveying despondence because of the social stigma of the south. The absence of a human figure is necessary for my images because I do not want anyone to compare a male model with someone he or she may recognize.

The Holy Bible is a reference I use because it symbolizes a spiritually pure quality of love. It also supports my reasons for male on male affection. There are a few passages in the Bible that advocate male on male affection. One passage, in particular, describes Jesus confronting Simon Peter about love and forgiveness. Jesus states in the Gospel of Luke that Simon Peter gave him no water for his feet, no kiss, nor did he anoint Jesus’ head with oil. Jesus was implying that he desired to be loved by Peter.The iconography of my images foments the mind of the viewer. I am working openly in an environment with a subject matter that is deemed to be private and taboo among heterosexual, conservative men. The numbers and the juxtapositions of the clothing to one another foster a blatant, yet, at times, subtle view of how compassionately men can act toward the ideas of love. These images, saying, “You, too, have these same feelings. You, too, want to be loved regardless of the person’s gender,” denotes there is not anything wrong with two people loving one another.

In essence, I am trying to reconcile multiple violations that were imposed upon me as a youth. These images, for me, reject a horrible truth and excuse the perpetrators. In my mind it is OK. for two men to love one another. Through photography, I am accounting for a sentiment that I know still lives in the U.S. One that hasn’t been thoroughly talked about, which is one part of my work seeks to do.