BRANDON HERMAN

“As a queer kid growing up in the American suburbs, I got the message that it was not safe to share my truth. So I lived in my imagination, in movies, in TV. As an out-of-the closet adult living in an urban setting amongst progressive people, some of that sensed danger is no longer relevant, and fantasy is often not appropriate for day-to-day life. But I spent years developing and inhabiting this inner world, and rather than stifle it or kill it—as I was for so long trying to do to my queerness—I’ve found artmaking to be a means to embrace and even enjoy this imagined life. So I blur the lines between reality and moviemaking — treating the people I know as an ensemble cast with whom to make my narratives. I’ve often described the photography in my practice as film stills from movies that don’t exist.

“I like to work in other mediums too. Every piece is an opportunity to imagine myself as someone or something else. Thirteen years ago I made my first large-scale sculpture—the whole time seeing myself as playing the part of sculptor. I made a custom pair of shoes for a benefit for MOCA, and got to pretend I was a shoe designer. How else, aside from being an artist, could I justify spending my time pretending so much? I had no option but to pretend as a kid. Now, rather than waste another second judging any part of my past, I’m leaning into the strength of my imagination and honoring it.”

Brandon Herman graduated with a BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2006. He has been exhibited internationally, including in a recent project with MUSAC Contemporary Art Museum in León, Spain. His work has appeared and been written about in such publications as Anthem, Artforum, Dazed, Eyemazing, Flaunt, Nylon, Soma, Tokion, V, and Vice, and is part of the permanent art collections of the Harvard Business School, the RISD Museum, and the Benetton collection.