Davide Meneghello: Notes on a Masculine Image

Davide Meneghello is an Italian artist and archivist based in London. His work uses photography, text, and installation to investigate historical representations of queerness, with a particular focus on the codification of queer desire and the construction of gay identity. In Notes on a Masculine Image, Meneghello utilises a variety of print formats to reflect upon the hidden past of homoerotic imagery in photographic archives, exploring the competing notions of display and concealment as found in a group of vintage Super 8 bodybuilding films. Eschewing a traditional model for this project, the edition is comprised of three main elements: a screw-bound book block that animates a sequence of images printed by Meneghello from the original 8mm films, which the reader is welcome to dismantle, edit and reconstruct; a triptych of prints that describe tenderly a moment of ecstatic exertion; and a booklet curated by the artist (with contributions from Sean Burns, Alastair Curtis, and Lalu Delbracio) that orbits and examines perceived notions of masculinity.

Taking Meneghello’s project as a point of departure, Alastair Curtis’ contribution to the accompanying booklet considers the impact of AIDS-related trauma, both on the male physique and on the wider cultural perception of queer bodies, through a prosaic analysis of the lives and work of David Wojnarowicz, Hugh Steers, and Hervé Guibert. Sobering, yet celebratory, the piece affirms that “to find beauty – and to be found beautiful – is an act of singular grace.”