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All Things Human: Desire and Tennessee Williams Revisited
In his most recent portrait series, "All Things Human: Desire and Tennessee Williams Revisited," he's exploring ways in which the richly woven visual narrative of Tennessee Williams's Southern might look with a twist on gender. This series liberates Williams' characters from their literary constraints to explore gender, race, and social class in contemporary New Orleans.
Tennessee Williams was writing about "all things human" and how
people handle desire. He wrote that he used his family's history and the
people of New Orleans as inspirations and for his character's traits in
his stories and plays — quoting that "writing about these people made
great drama."
"As a New Orleanian, I'm quite aware that I live in holy territory for
writers and photographers. I wanted to explore ways the richly woven
visual narrative of Tennessee Williams's "Southern" might look with a
twist on gender. In this series, I chose some of my friends and
colleagues who perform drag in New Orleans to interpret dramatic
scenes from Williams's better-known plays. I realized when picking my muses for certain scenes; they were very much like the
characters they portray."
- Arthur Severio
His words...my photos
“I can’t change truth, I’m not God!”
"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!"
"I gave up visitng my pschoanalyst because he eas meddling too much in my private life."
"A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages"
"Oh, you weak beautiful people, who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you."
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