Jimmy DeSana, *Untitled (Male Nude)*, 1985, Vintage C-print, 25.4 x 20.32 cm. Courtesy of the Jimmy DeSana Trust and Salon 94, New York.

Marlon T. Riggs, *Tongues Untied (still of march)*, 1989, film. Courtesy of Signifyin' Works, and Frameline Distribution.

Marlon T. Riggs, *Tongues Untied (still)*, 1989, film. Courtesy of Signifyin' Works, and Frameline Distribution.

Installation view Jimmy DeSana's work in *The Sodomite Invasion* at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Jimmy DeSana, *101 Nudes* (detail), 1972, Vintage portfolio of 57 photos, 39.5 x 29.2 cm. Courtesy of the Jimmy DeSana Trust and Salon 94, New York. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Vitrine with archival material part of *The Sodomite Invasion* at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Installation view of Marlon Rigg's work in *The Sodomite Invasion* at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Vitrine with archival material part of *The Sodomite Invasion* at Griffin Art Projects. Courtesy of the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archive. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Jimmy DeSana, Untitled (Male Nude), 1985, Vintage C-print, 25.4 x 20.32 cm. Courtesy of the Jimmy DeSana Trust and Salon 94, New York.

Marlon T. Riggs, Tongues Untied (still of march), 1989, film. Courtesy of Signifyin' Works, and Frameline Distribution.

Marlon T. Riggs, Tongues Untied (still), 1989, film. Courtesy of Signifyin' Works, and Frameline Distribution.

Installation view Jimmy DeSana's work in The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Jimmy DeSana, 101 Nudes (detail), 1972, Vintage portfolio of 57 photos, 39.5 x 29.2 cm. Courtesy of the Jimmy DeSana Trust and Salon 94, New York. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Installation view Jimmy DeSana's work in The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Vitrine with archival material part of The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Installation view Jimmy DeSana's work in The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Installation view of Marlon Rigg's work in The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Vitrine with archival material part of The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Courtesy of the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archive. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

Installation view of Marlon Rigg's work in The Sodomite Invasion at Griffin Art Projects. Photo: Scott Massey, SITE Photography.

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The Sodomite Invasion: Experimentation, Politics and Sexuality in the work of Jimmy DeSana and Marlon T. Riggs

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Artists

Jimmy DeSana, Marlon T. Riggs

Curator

Lorenzo Fusi

Please note that Griffin Art Projects is closed to ensure the health and safety of our community and to flatten the curve of COVID-19. Please refer to the gallery’s website for further updates.

***

Opening reception
Friday, January 30 from 7–9 pm

The Sodomite Invasion: Self-Guided Tour

Griffin Art Projects presents a double solo show pairing the work of two American artists: the fine art photographer Jimmy DeSana, a radical spirit and highly influential voice in the field of photography based in NYC, and the experimental filmmaker and documentarist Marlon T. Riggs, a vocal activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS, whose filmic work primarily explores race relations and sexuality.

For the first in time Canada, the Griffin presents a large selection of works by DeSana, spanning from the early seminal series of B/W photographs self-published in ”101 Nudes” at the age of twenty, until the later experimentations in the darkroom that intensified as his AIDS condition progressed. Alongside DeSana’s photography, the Griffin dedicates the first exhibition display dedicated to filmmaker and documentarist Marlon T. Riggs. On show, will be documentary material focusing on his relations to Vancouver, and his planned, but never realized, project with VIVO Media Arts, as well as photos by Lyle Ashton Harris, and clips of Riggs’ most famous filmic work and the documentary “I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life Of Marlon Riggs”, a compassionate portrait of the artist by Karen Everett.

This exhibition project continues the mandate of Griffin Art Projects’ focus on collecting, examining in this case, what it means to be the steward of an artist’s archive and legacy. The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with photographer Laurie Simmons (Jimmy DeSana) and documentary filmmaker Vivianne Kleiman (Marlon T. Riggs), close friends of the artists who now oversee the artists’ archives and collections and whose work has been crucial in the honouring of their legacies. Both have loaned works from their collections and/or provided guidance and expertise for the project.

Presented in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver.

Visit www.griffintprojects.ca for more information.

This exhibition contains work that may not be suitable for some viewers.

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