It’s easy to oversimplify the concept of intimacy in queer photography; to assume that for something to be intimate, there must be an explicitly sexual edge to the work. In Analog Human Studies, the newest photo book and accompanying exhibition by Slava Mogutin – spanning the primary 20 years of his work – the photographer, poet and activist is opening the door to a wider, more inclusive definition of the term.

When describing the connection that the photos in Analog Human Studies has with intimacy, Mogutin says that while the work is “perhaps less sexually explicit” than a few of what’s come before it, the imagery is more “pansexual and intergenerational”. He goes on to say that this collection is an “exploration of transgressive and radical expressions of human nature and sexuality, marginal subcultures and fetishes”.

The expressions of sexuality that outline much of Analog offer a posh, kaleidoscopic view of the queer body, refusing to create a single, uniform idea of what that may appear to be. From the heavily tattooed “Yves, Brooklyn” (2022), to the pastoral serenity imbued in “Maxima, NYC” (2018), it’s clear that Mogutin’s photography goals to create an area where each subject has the liberty to embody their very own relationship to queerness. The artist himself makes this clear, saying, “Every portrait is a collaboration based on trust, compassion and mutual respect.”

There’s a tenderness to the connection between Mogutin and his subjects, something that’s informed by a loss that he’s still processing through Analog Human Studies. Mogutin describes this volume – the primary in a series; he’s already working on volumes two and three – “two former lovers who committed suicide, and a friend in Buenos Aires who died of brain cancer.” In keeping with Mogutin, grappling with these losses fundamentally modified Analog Human Studies, turning it into “a mirrored image on our mortality and the ephemeral nature of life and love.”

The ephemera of life, and the query of what we leave behind – for Mogutin, “all we leave behind is the work and memories we create” – walks hand in hand with the connection that his photographs have with queer history. The stark still lifetime of “Closer to the Knives’ is a direct reference to David Wojnarowicz (described by Mogutin as being one among his heroes), and pictures of artists like Ron Athey are vital within the ways wherein Analog pays “tribute to queer elders, the generation that got here before.” These multiple a long time of beautifully unassuming images create not only an intergenerational conversation, nevertheless it also captures contemporary queerness, people who Mogutin calls the heroes of his work: “rebels, outcasts and misfits who I’m fortunate to call my friends.”

Exiled from Russia for his outspoken queer art and activism, Mogutin calls it “disheartening” to see his work censored on social media within the west “just as much” as he was being censored in post-communist Russia. The abiding spectre of censorship – made much more frighteningly real by the homophobia and transphobia of the culture wars – mean that Mogutin’s work will at all times have a political edge to it. Along with his subjects coming from everywhere in the world – London to Latest York, Berlin to Buenos Aries – Analog Human Studies captures a portrait of queerness that refuses uniformity; by covering a long time of labor, this collection shows not only the event in Mogutin’s own work, however the changes in how queerness looks, and what it means to be queer because the world has modified.

Sadly, Mogutin says that “hypocrisy, bigotry, and homophobia don’t have borders or nationality.” But his work acts as a riposte to prejudice; a document on not only the resilience present in queer life, but to the importance and power of memory. Whether it’s in holding close those we’ve lost, or bridging the gap between the generation that got here before us, Analog Human Studies captures the kaleidoscope of queerness in all of its love and loss, hope and healing.

Analog Human Studies by Slava Mogutin is accessible here.

Slava Mogutin: Analog Human Studies is on view at The Bureau of General Services – Queer Division LGBT Center, 208 West thirteenth Street, Latest York City 10011 from April 12 until June 4 2023. The opening reception is on April 12 at 6-8 PM. On April 23 at 3 PM, Mogutin will screen a project called Gay Propaganda on the Bureau.

Join Dazed Club and be a part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, in addition to a free subscription to Dazed for a 12 months. Join for £5/month today.