Constructing the Sexual Self: Wolfgang Tillmans's Portraiture and BUTT Magazine

Abstract

The overarching goal of this visual essay is to analyze Wolfgang Tillmans’s photography as it relates to gender representation and queer identity. In particular, I attend to theories set forth by Sigmund Freud, Kaja Silverman, and Judith Butler in an effort to engage historic and contemporary psychoanalytic thought with visual cues present in the artist’s portraiture for BUTT Magazine. My aim is to expand upon socially constructed notions of masculinity and femininity, to illustrate how Tillmans’s images represent a contemporary portrayal of gender, and to cultivate a deeper critical reading of the artist and his work.