Bodies in Contact. Relations of Touch in Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s Photo Series “Darkroom Mirror”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2026.338Keywords:
Aesthetics, Gender, Recognition, Representation, SubjectivityAbstract
The article analyzes touch as a pivotal sensory motif in the double portrait photos of US-based artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya. The ongoing series "Darkroom Mirror" interrogates established models of subject constitution and the circular logic of mis/recognition between the self and the other in terms of gendered and racial differentiation. As erotic mirror images of touching and sensing, the images shift attention away from the referential nature of visual representation, which is grounded in concepts of identity based on distinction and possession, toward the tactile qualities of perception. By invoking the material, historical, and aesthetic conditions of photography and blending them with the affective qualities of portraiture, the works constitute figures of recognition against the backdrop of queer, feminist, and otherness-informed concepts. These figures allow for the conception of mutual dependence and responsibility.
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