GAYLETTER

The transgender artist Ace Morgan has been taking photos documenting the West Coast music, LGBT and punk scene for over a decade now. We were intrigued by his work the minute we learned he was having an opening in NYC. We had a  chat with him while he was preparing for the show ‘What’s for Breakfast?‘. 

When did you start taking photos? I started taking photographs in 1983, I bought my first disc camera at Kmart, then in 1985 I bought my first 35mm camera.

What in particular interested you about documenting the West Coast music, LGBT and punk scene? I was photographing first the Detroit Punk scene, and a lot of West coast bands would pass through a little space me and some friends ran in Detroit called 404 Willis. The LGBT and punk scene was my surroundings, this is what was happening around me and I wanted to remember this time, these people, it was the 80’s and I knew we were part of something big.

What are you trying to say with your images? I feel like I am trying to show you the world is not perfect, I am showing the world tragedies such as the Malice Green situation that happened in Detroit in 1991, I am bringing humanity to what some people would say  is in-humane, I see empathy through my lens. Like the images of the serial killer that I accidentally photographed show a side of this person that is human, and it was such a tragic situation. My lens is capturing empathy, revealing corruption, human suffering and human pride. Photography is documenting my world around me, what I see, who I love, and who I don’t love.

What particular subjects are you attracted to and why? I am attracted to my surroundings, I might be at a live show and I want to capture the energy of the live set, almost all of my subjects are my friends and they are attractive to me because of their beauty or their story of how they came up, most of my friends are my chosen family. I might be at a protest and feel the need to tell the story of the situation, like in 1990, Cracker Barrel restaurants refused to hire out gay and lesbian workers, I felt like people needed to see this.

When did you transition? I began my physical transition 9 years ago. 1995 is when I began to use male pronouns. I identified as male before I fully transitioned.

What impact do you think being trans has on your work? I don’t think it has much of an impact on my work at this time, I still photograph my surroundings and what is happening in my life.

How do you feel about the relationship between Trans and gay or broader Queer communities? I feel like the relationship between Queer and Trans and beyond communities could use some work, on working together more, I think smaller communities it’s more of a mix and in bigger cities it is more divided.

Why is the title of your show ‘What’s For Breakfast’? The title of my show ‘What’s for Breakfast‘ is about denial. So much fucked up stuff is happening and no one wants to talk about it, Hey “what’s for breakfast?” Wiz who is on the show card, ass out and flipping off the camera is a great example, I documented him for a long time in 1991, he lived with his parents and they were in denial about his addiction to EVERY drug he could get his hands on, they would peek into his room and talk through the crack of the door because they were afraid of him, he jumped off the roof of his parents house and took his life, I thought he would OD. This says it all.

What did you have for breakfast? Today I had for breakfast; three whole eggs sunny side up, over a bed of veggies, kale, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes cooked in ghee, with a side of sweet potato and strawberries and blueberries.

Have you been planning this show for a while? Claire Fleury and Alesia Exum (the curators) found my work in a book called Cutter Photozine in December we met over Skype and they invited me to have a show, they were looking through 26 years of my work that I am still going through, It was a 3 to 4 month process.

Why does your email contain the word fitness in it? Where does fitness come from? I am a personal trainer as well, certified for 8 years. I do group fitness and one-on-one personal training.

What photographer(s) inspire you? Photographers that inspire me the most are Nan Goldin, Glenn E Friedman, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Sebastiao Salgado, Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt, Gilles Peress.

What’s your idea of happiness? My idea of happiness is hearing my daughters laughter and a full refrigerator.

Ace Morgan’s show ‘What’s for Breakfast’ is open until May 31 at  The Strange Loop Gallery and Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, 27 Orchard St. NY, NY.