From Christopher Harrity’s review for the Advocate:

Berlin, before the rise of the Nazi party in the early part of the last century, was one of the most evolved cities in Europe regarding homosexuality. Germany was both very open to the idea of a gay identity (the word homosexual was coined in Germany in 1869 as an understood identity) and at the same time repressed (Paragraph 175 [1871-1977] was part of the German Criminal Code that equated homosexuality with bestiality and child rape).

While Berlin became the capital of the world for open gay expression and identity, at the same time the Nazi party expanded the scope of Paragraph 175 which resulted in thousands of gay men being prosecuted, imprisoned and put to death.

Pacifico Silano’s first solo exhibit takes its title, Against Nature, from the language of Paragraph 175. It uses the gritty images and color scheme of the Nazi party and of the Prussian national movements. Comprised of found and researched images, his own photography and ephemera, Silano considers the relationship of the individual to the collective as it relates to identity, memory, history, and the Holocaust.

View the original article

View the exhibition at ClampArt
Browse all of Pacifico Silano’s work at ClampArt

From Angie Kordic’s extensive review for Widewalls Magazine:

Throughout history of art, the imagery depicting homosexuality and the explicit erotic appreciation of the same sex had been severely criticized by the church and had often been condemned as blasphemous and vulgar. In recent times, the notion has pushed the boundaries, challenging the rules of gallery censorship and enriching the archives of fine-art photography, becoming significantly different, but still often mistaken for pornography.

Against Nature represents a series of images about how gay men lived in Nazi Germany during World War II. Inspired by the found photographs from the period, as well as journals and articles, Silano created a sort of scrapbook project in his style, using the color combination of red, black, and white, typical for that period, evoking nationalistic movements and Nazi propaganda. Taking its name from “Paragraph 175,” part of the old German Criminal Code that made acts of homosexuality illegal, it also was the rallying cry of a homophile movement dating back to Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism in the 19th century. The work takes us back to the time where identities and memories were deleted and it examines the relationships of individuals.

View the original article

View the exhibition at ClampArt
Browse all of Pacifico Silano’s work at ClampArt