I thought that would have been interesting for the purposes of this blog to place in dialogue with my work Again He Holds Me by the Hand, a couple of project by artists that have worked towards mapping a queer narrative in the history of western society, particularly in Britain.

In this post the work of the artist Jez Dolan, Polari – an Etymology according to the Diagrammatic by Alfred H Barr (1936) – 2012, is a reinterpretation of the diagram organised by Alfred H Barr, first director of MOMA, originally addressed to the study of modern art, which in Dolan’s work, comes back formally appropriated but with a focus on the linguistic genealogy and influences on Polari, the slang language, used in Britain’s homosexual, theatre, sailors and outlaw communities from the 17^th century onwards.

“Jez Dolan’s practice explores queerness and identity through the codification of language with a specific focus on: the things we don’t say / things that remain unsaid / secrecy and hiddenness, whilst utilising text and language as both form and content, visual presence and mode of communication”.[1]

[1] From Jez Dolan’s Artist Statement, at www.jezdolan.com