Visual AIDS Talk + Tour: Benjamin Fredrickson with Alex Fialho

Artist Member Benjamin Frederickson was in dialogue with Visual AIDS Programs Manager Alex Fialho. On the occasion of his debut solo exhibition with a striking collection of Polaroid photographs, Frederickson discussed his work on view as well as his broader photographic practice. Numerous patrons and gallery goers filled the gallery to be able to hear his description of the work.

To view more of Benjamin Fredricksons work and read his bio, click here.

Benjamin's images document his years as a sex worker in the Midwest, his private sexual life and his community of gay men both in the Midwest and New York City. Fredrickson himself appears in many of his images as an active participant in the culture he photographs. He is pictured sitting on the lap of a "John", having intercourse in a dungeon and in various other sexual scenarios, sometimes exploring S/M and fetish. His photographs of other men are at once loving and honest and brimming with sexual desire and lust. Most of his subjects look directly at the camera, aware that they are being observed and presenting themselves for that purpose.

As part of the Visual AIDS June 2014 exhibition "Ephemera as Evidence," Fredrickson contributed a pop-up photo studio in which he welcomed subjects to be photographed in his temporary home away from home at La MaMa Galleria. The consistent theme throughout Fredrickson's images is the longing for and sometimes the event of human connection, either by sexual interaction or through the act of photographing and being photographed. He makes himself vulnerable and in turn his sitters reveal themselves for his camera and the viewer's gaze.