I hate the feeling of a damp swimsuit between my legs, sticky with sweat, melted chapstick, fruit juice. The imprint of grass on calf muscle, sunburn on only the left ear. Blisters that sting in the shower and sneakers with the bottoms peeling off. Now, we sit quietly while we watch TV, walls so thick we only hear the fridge humming under the voices. Do we wait for homeplace or do we create it?

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These images build a queer community situated in the Midwest, examining what a utopia could look like in domestic and private landscapes. I center collected objects, hair, quiet performance, and unfetishized body. Sitting somewhere between reaction and fantasy, I pull materials integral to queer nightlife into the daylight. Using close friends and trans siblings as stand-ins for biological family, these images manifest a desire to have unconditional relationships without letting go of the landscape I grew up in. Shot on medium and large-format film, the images were made in areas around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and across Michigan, including friends, family, partners, interiors, and landscapes that repurpose the different layers of erasure experienced in this region.

2016-2019

J Houston graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, and they were an artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art, The Growlery, and Vermont Studio Center. J has received grants from Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, and Carnegie Mellon University, and their images of Pittsburgh’s queer community have been a finalist for the Duke CDS Essay Prize and Silver Eye Center for Photography fellowship. Their work has been shown at Houston Center for Photography, Turner Contemporary, Aviary Gallery, Amos Eno Gallery, CONTACT Gallery, Miller ICA, and New York Photo Festival, among others. This spring, J will have a solo show at The Java Project in Brooklyn.

If you are a queer or trans person in the greater NY region and would like to have your portrait taken alone or with a partner/friend, please reach out to J .

http://www.j-houston.com/

@j_houston