Art & Design

Luke Smithers: Gay or Straight?

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“We are what we wear” according to the most outdated perception of sexual discriminations. Ever since our birth, we are labeled either as a boy or girl, from our clothes’ color.

This obsession has affected Luke Smithers, who has taken up a project, using a boy, without making a statement for their sexual identity. After taking him to an old abandoned building, he dressed him with either nazi uniforms or womenswear. Wondering how rules concerning one’s identity, made Smithers work on the boy’s body, as if it were a canvas. It is never revealed however in which ones the model is pretending or not.

In such way, Smither proves that all boils down to social stereotypes, and not an actual need of expression. One want to look like the group they want to be part of, and not what they really feel like.