CURATOR STATEMENT

In Brazil, Seven Boys is a well-known brand of sliced bread. According to a Brazilian friend, it used to be that when you saw a cute boy on the street in Brazil, you would say, "Isn't he bread?" In the case of this exhibit, the name is purely and delightfully coincidental.

SEVEN BOYS is part of a larger exploration of identity through visual media, specifically photography in all its evolutions, including video. This particular project involves the work of seven Brazilian young men who utilize manipulated digital autoportraits to present themselves to an exploding virtual community known as Fotolog.

I have been familiar with Internet chat rooms and personals since the early ‘80s. (I was nearly addicted to this form of communication for a brief period of time.) I had tired of the medium, until I discovered Fotolog. As a prolific photographer with a growing digital archive of over 70,000 images, I found Fotolog to be the perfect forum to share my passion for photography with others around the world.

I posted my first photo on June 6, 2003. At that time I recall there were approximately 10,000 Fotologgers worldwide, mostly Brazilians. As of this writing there are 43,140 Fotologgers, with the number growing exponentially. Brazilians continue to dominate at about 40% of the total number of members. In fact, their input accounts for almost three times their US counterparts in number, and 1.5 times more participants than the next seven countries together.

Brazil 16,747
USA 6,357
Japan 1,018
Canada 748
Germany 545
Chile 521
The Netherlands 464
(up to the minute statistics can be found here)

Through Fotolog, users can post photographs of their choice (within certain limitations required to control potentially offensive material). The diversity of subject matter is phenomenal. It confirms the critical position of photography in contemporary society as a medium of expression and communication no longer reserved to a professional elite.

At its inception, photography was embraced by a burgeoning bourgeoisie eager to admire itself and to show itself off in its new trappings. Today, digital photography, the personal computer and the Internet combine to serve the desire of a relatively privileged international class to commingle. Individuals seek attention by flaunting not just their outward trappings, but also their social, intellectual, emotional, creative and sexual prowess.

SEVEN BOYS showcases images of and by seven young men who stood apart from the rest by exhibiting a unique ability to portray themselves creatively and seductively without relying on wearisome stereotypes. The images range from lo-tech webcam and camphone originals to masterfully manipulated digital compositions.

In the exhibit, I display them as digital prints and via monitors in keeping with the spirit of the technology. Considering that the original work was created with computer display in mind, and therefore very small, I have taken the liberty to significantly enlarge the pictures with the explicit approval of the artists, keeping the content and the color mood intact and faithful to the original.

The emphasis on these seven boys in particular is due to my original excitement over their departure from the customary practices of the overwhelming majority of masculine Internet interlocutors. However, since I began to realize this project, there have been numerous new Fotologgers, both men and women that would well qualify for inclusion. I will therefore be featuring the work of other young Brazilian men and women in the exhibit in the form of a digital slide show.

The names of the SEVEN BOYS are being withheld until a day before the opening in an effort to create orchestrated suspense and excitement within the Fotolog community. During the opening, photographs from the event itself will be uploaded to my own Fotolog so that the artists and spectators worldwide can actively participate from their own computers, not only by simply viewing, but by posting their "Guest Signatures" in real time to the respective artists through the ingeniously built-in Fotolog Comments system.