photo by Kevin Truong
photo by Kevin Truong
photo by Kevin Truong
photo by Kevin Truong
photo by Kevin Truong
Marc, in his own words: “Being gay. That is a strange thing. I think it’s so linked to who you are, you’re identity, that I don’t really remember it all the time. I can’t really say anymore how it shapes how I’m different from any other heterosexual guy. I guess I really feel it when I hit the margins of my life, my world. When you need to leave your better half across the world since you cannot qualify for a family reunion visa. Because there isn’t a box you can check to qualify your family or your relationship. When you need to lie about the wife you left behind to explain the wedding band mark on your finger when you’re travelling.
When I came out to my parents, my mother cried. Not for the forsaken soul of her little boy, not for the grand-children she was never to have. She was crying because she knew I would insist on respect and recognition. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. I would be hurt. And she was right. I was emotionally and physically hurt – i still don’t know which is worse. I’ve lost friends, I got hit by cars, rocks and fists, I was taken some of my basic human rights away. I was threaten, followed. Maybe the things that hurt more came from people I was closer to, and introduced their statements with “You know I’m not a homophobe, but…”.
But if same sex love isn’t a choice, open-mindedness isn’t either. It comes with education and the development of empathic capacities. That’s why I think that projects like this one are important and help create understanding and relatedness between LGBTs’ and heterosexuals’ life. I have the chance to live in an accepting and open world, the art world. Being gay, being different, played a big part in the acceptance of my identity as an artist. I’ve linked my artistic aspirations to my homosexuality, as if it was a symptom of it. It took me a long time to see that being gay/straight doesn’t come with an identity bundle of traits and tastes and that I needed to continue to learn who I was. Fifteen years later, I’m still curious about who I am and the quest to make my identity flower is constant. And I think that when more people will discover that, we’ll have one foot in the door of acceptance and more men and women embracing the complexities of their selves.”