Within his dreamlike world of gold-threaded embroidery, graphite drawings and collaborative performances, artist Lee Kang-seung imagines a conversation across time and space, connecting historical queer figures whose lives never directly intertwined.
In his latest eight-minute-long collaborative video, “Lazarus,” for instance, he envisages a dialogue between pioneering Singaporean-born ballet choreographer Goh Choo San (1948-87) and Brazilian conceptual artist Jose Leonilson (1957-93), both of whose lives were lost to the AIDS epidemic a generation ago.
At the helm of Lee's vision, the two dancers perform a creatively restaged rendition of Goh’s 1986 neo-classical ballet, “Unknown Territory,” while united by a single costume that draws inspiration from Leonilson’s final creation — a sculptural installation composed of two men’s dress shirts sewn together.
The performers’ movements, naturally restricted by the costume’s design, simultaneously embody the states of intimacy, suffering and belonging that all remain significant parts of queer communities’ lived experiences.
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