From Our Archives: Frank Uwe Laysiepen: S’HE, 1973 to 1974
Frank Uwe Laysiepen, S’HE, 1973 to 1974
On December 15, 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declared homosexuality is not a mental illness.
In celebration of this moment in history, we look back to Issue No. 24 – Identity
The below article was written by Lara Pan
Frank Uwe Laysiepen was born in Solingen, Germany in 1943. Also known as Ulay, he was a gender identity pioneer as well as long-time collaborator and partner to Marina Abromovic. Although his early works have largely been forgotten, he is nevertheless one of the most significant artists to explore the notion of gender and body transformations. Artists like Ulay, along with Genesis P-Orridge, Greyson Perry, and Orlan, opened up new ways of understanding gender and identity for generations to come; their impact is vital, not only in the contemporary art world but in society at large.
I met Ulay quite late in my curatorial career in 2014 in London. Chris Hammond—curator and lecturer at Goldsmiths College and founder of the MOT International Gallery, which was Ulay’s gallery at the time—introduced us. I was struck immediately by his modesty, sensibility, knowledge, and sense of humor. He used to say that he was the “most famous unknown artist.”
His early polaroid works focus on self-portraiture, resolving around the actions that precede the final fixation of the image; they suggest the momentary specificity of the captured photo. Moreover, they simultaneously unveil the centrality and uncertainty of the “I” of the artist himself, who manifests exclusively through his body, metamorphosed through an unending search for new identities. In Ulay’s photography, opposites are not conceived of as contradictions, but rather, as stages and moments of a single identity.
Ulay’s artistic approach explores fundamental aspects of the human condition and its forms through the use of performance, space, body, gender transformation, identity, and emotion—associations he developed further in his collaborative work with Marina Abromovic during their partnership from ‘76-’88. There is an inherent tension to Ulay’s self-portraiture, since he used that medium in search of answers to questions about his own identity, while simultaneously understanding that the camera could never fully answer those questions. His singular visions towards these new constructions of identity, however, offers a novel model of self-representation, divested of the seams and suffocating barriers imposed by society’s preconceived notions of what ought to be.
He left us last year after a long and courageous fight against lymphatic cancer, but his work and legacy will remain a vibrant part of art history and continue to be of undeniable importance for generations to come. Prior to his passing, he and his partner of eleven years, Slovenian-born designer Lena Pislak, established the ULAY foundation, a multi-disciplinary platform based between Slovenia and Amsterdam. The foundation includes a project space based in Ljubljana as well as collaborative residencies, and is now undergoing the process of archiving the artist’s work and ephemera.
Ulay was clear that he did not want the physical space to be confused with a gallery. In an interview with ARTnews earlier this year, Pislak described the goals and purpose of the space: “The artist intended it to be an unhinged, multi-disciplinary platform … a reflection of Ulay’s nomadic and spirited way of living and working.” He expressed that his wish was to facilitate the creative process and educate young artists. She went on to explain, “Our idea is and remains to keep the spirit of Ulay alive … But [our purpose now] is also to broaden an understanding of his work not only for art specialists—curators, artists, and art historians—but also to introduce his incredibly unique way of living and working to young artists and students.”
In November of this year, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam together with the ULAY foundation will present a major retrospective honoring the work and career of this great artist.
