The same-sex marriage became legal in England & Wales yesterday, but the perceptions about it will not change in one day and that is what William To is trying to question in his project Foreseen Paths:
“Foreseen Paths – A photographic series raising questions on Gay Marriage. In my own life I remember that by adopting western culture I gained greater acceptance of my peers. Yet in doing so something unique and fundamental to my identity was sacrificed on the alter on conformity. The gay marriage debate has been framed to a certain extent in a similar way. We may gain the right to marry by only if are prepared to sacrifice our own modes of relationship.
My work confronts this point head on. By juxtaposing images of different gay sub cultures (bright, bold, sexual, life-style choices of the gay stereotypes) with sterile portraits, which draw upon the ideals of sobriety, chastity, and conformity which formed the hallmark of the modern institution of marriage from its Victorian redefinition (a definition which, like much of Victorian morality is still pervasive in modern Britain). In this aspect my work is a kind of a call to arms for those of us who embrace marriage not to submit to its terms but rather to mould marriage into an institution which we can rightly describe as gay marriage. Doing this I believe will give us true equality, as it will not only allow us to live under the same rules as others but to interpret these rules in way which is our own.”
More pics at: http://williamtophotography.co.uk
