ABOUT THE PROJECT
Kings|Queens is a visual response for the conventional notion of 'Gaydar'. Gaydar is a colloquialism referring to the intuitive ability of a person to assess others' sexual orientations. Gaydar relies almost exclusively on non-verbal clues and LGBT stereotypes. These include (but are not limited to) the sensitivity to social behaviors and mannerisms; for instance, acknowledging flamboyant body language, the tone of voice used by a person when speaking, overtly rejecting traditional gender roles, a person's occupation, and grooming habits.
The detection of sexual orientation by outward appearance or behavior is frequently challenged. For example, masculine gay men who do not act in a stereotypically "gay" fashion, or with metrosexual men (regardless of sexuality) who exhibit a lifestyle, spending habits, and concern for personal appearance stereotypical of fashionable urban gay men.
The act of stereotyping is similar to the reading of Tarot. The role of the Tarot cards as the medium is to convey the idea that gaydar is the use of predisposition ideas to categorize a person. The belief of divinity associated with Tarot focuses on the prospect that whatever cards are dealt and the orientation of the card to the participant will be revelatory.
The design of the cards are based on the history of the pink triangle. The orientation of the pink triangle conveys different meanings depending on its orientation. The pink triangle was one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, used to identify prisoners who were sent there because of their homosexuality. Every prisoner had to wear a downward-pointing triangle on his or her jacket. In my design, the downward-pointing triangle and its images are associated with masculine and heterosexual visual cues.
By the end of the 1970s, the pink triangle was adopted as a symbol for gay rights protest. The pink triangle was inverted and became an easily recognizable symbol that stands in the face of oppression and persecution. In my design, the upward-pointing triangle and its images are associated with feminine and homosexual visual cues.
*I take no credit for the photographs in the design.
