Jesse Egner’s Disidenticications: Steven Baboun in Conversation with Jesse Egner

Abstract

In this article, Steven Baboun interviews Jesse Egner about his photographic series, Disidentifications—a series of absurd, unusual, and playful portraits of queer individuals meant to evoke the uncanny, humor, and curiosity. Inspired by the theory of disidentification as described by queer theorist José Muñoz, this series examines the liminality of disidentities that neither identify nor counter-identify with a dominant ideology. As a gay man with a non-normative body, Egner has experienced extensive rejection from members of his fellow gay community, forcing him into a precarious relationship with himself. The playful and performative acts and symbols in these photographs reflect this relationship, while the fragmented narratives and uncertainty—existing in a space between reality and fantasy—reflect the liminal space of queer identity.