ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The image of Saint Sebastian holds an iconic place in art history. From the Renaissance, he is represented as a beautiful young man embodying ideals of ephebic beauty, barely covered by a thin loincloth. These paintings are emblematic of the pleasure and pain dichotomy within Christian iconography and they have often been seen as homoerotic or queer. Many gay artists and photographers have been inspired by this ambivalent figure, which became a true queer icon over the years.
Very graphic, this photograph presets a modernized Saint Sebastian, wearing Nike sport shorts in hommage to photographers Carl Fischer and Samuel Fosso. With it, as female photographers, we aim to question the eroticization of the male body and especially the black queer identity which was absent for a long time from art history.

AUTHOR
A four-handed photography studio, Iconographia was created by Armâne Magnier and Clémence Rolland in 2021. After studying art history, they embarked on this artistic activity full-time. Rich from their experience in promoting cultural heritage in major cultural institutions, they put forward a new approach to photography.

Through Iconographia, they show a pictorial vision of photography, a return to its origins in the art of portraiture and composition. The duo puts their knowledge of image analysis at the service of photographic creation. Based on their valuable knowledge in art history, they create rich, striking images staged like paintings and works of art. They are inspired by masterpieces, in particular those created by women artists, and reinterpret them trough the prism of their feminist activism, inherent to their work. Within Iconographia, they conceive their artworks as an opening of museums and art towards more modern and inclusive representations, especially by questioning the notions of body and gender.

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