Alvin Baltrop’s Voyeurism: Sexual Perversity, Race, and the Historical Uses of Photography with Darius Bost

In this Research and Academic Program lecture, Darius Bost (University of Illinois Chicago / Clark/Oakley Fellow) will explore the work of black gay photographer Alvin Baltrop. Since the 2019 solo exhibition The Life and Times of Alvin Baltrop at the Bronx Museum, Baltrop, known for his photographs of the gay sexual subcultures and abandoned warehouses at New York's West Side piers, has received increased scholarly and popular attention. However, Baltrop has been primarily discussed as a gay artist who focused on gay subcultures. Though Baltrop's race, class, gender, and sexuality shaped his artistry, few scholars have analyzed how these identity markers shaped his life and times. Bost will discuss how Baltrop's identification as a black gay voyeur shaped his artistic practice and life experiences in the 1970s. Since Baltrop viewed his photography as historical documentation of a fleeting gay subculture, the talk also considers how his voyeuristic approach to photography might intervene in the practice of queer history.  

Presented in person in the Clark auditorium. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event.

Image: Alvin Baltrop, The Piers (two men) (detail), 1975–1986, silver gelatin print. Courtesy of the Alvin Baltrop Trust, © 2010, The Alvin Baltrop Trust and Galerie Buchholz