I Want To See How Things Play Out - Jesse Egner

“No Femmes. No Fats”—Seeing this phrase on gay dating apps as a teen marked me and my body as unwelcome. As a queer individual with a non-normative body, this rejection ignited an internal conflict between my body and my queerness. My work emerged from this struggle, initially as self-portraiture—which felt almost self-destructive due to years of body shaming. However, I began to understand my queerness photographically through absurdity, humor, and play.