Lorenzo Triburgo
1980 - Present
The series Policing Gender by Lorenzo Triburgo examines mass incarceration from a metaphorical and queer perspective. Today in the United States, LGBTQ people are often victims of discriminatory statements, as well as violence and persecution. Recent studies show that LGBTQ individuals are more likely to be convicted and receive longer prison sentences than their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts. This disparity is all the more glaring in the case of LGBTQ persons of color. Triburgo’s rendering of fabrics calls to mind Renaissance portraits of nobility in which sumptuous backdrops testify to the wealth and importance of a sitter. These images are installed next to stark aerial landscape images that resemble surveillance photography, making the absence of human subjects in his photographs all the more striking. The artist intends this absence: By being incarcerated, LGBTQ persons disappear from history and society.