Re-memory-ing Blueboy
by Eric Hensley, MVA 2023
Blueboy magazine was founded in 1974 by publisher Donald Embinder—advertising executive, LGBTQ+ pioneer and provocateur. Blueboy was the first nationally distributed gay mens' magazine in the United States. It served as the premiere resource for the interests of gay men ranging from music, art, fashion, hotspots, nightlife, politics to nude male pictorials.
In continuation of curatorial projects, such as the Blueboy ephemeral exhibition Hensley curated for Hammer Museum and The Huntington Art Museum, Hensley's exhibits provide a deeper understanding of gay life in America at the intersection of gay liberation and the AIDS crisis.
Hensley discusses the concepts of “rememory” and “gleaning silences” as critical conceptual lenses deployed in the analysis of the upcoming exhibition, Re-memory-ing Blueboy. Re-memory-ing Blueboy aims to understand the ways in which ephemera, in this case, Blueboy magazine—something meant to exist for a short time, has the capacity to be both ephemera and long-lived. When examining the function of ephemera it is important to understand that ephemera, like other types of objects, have an agency and biography of their own which in turn, enable ephemera to form an identity, create community, and serve as a catalyst for expressing culture. Understanding how gay ephemera functions differently than heteronormative ephemera, Blueboy is analyzed against problematic perceptions of gay life in order to assess the differences of the functions, as well as highlight the ways in which ephemera can be used to recuperate maligned communities.
Curatorial project presentation: 30 minutes