Your name
Michael James O'Brien
Place of birth
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Place where you live now
Atlanta, USA
3 words to describe you
Photographer, editor, activist.
Why do you take pictures?
As I think about the act of making photographs, In Borrowed Light is my version of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment”. For me, you plan, you’re smart, you’re well-intentioned, you are in luck when you catch it — and then it is over. You are like Orpheus leading Eurydice out of the underworld, or Hadrian looking for Antinous: in borrowed light, trying not to look back. Never look back. This sense of fleeting encounter, of indelible engagement — of presence, loss and discovery. I am interested in everything & photography is the most enduring way to activate & facilitate this dynamic.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Growing up in NYC with European parents, I had unlimited access to books & I often skipped school to catch an Ingmar Bergman or Fellini double feature. The 4 books I claim as indelible inspiration are Orlando by Virginia Woolf for its drama of gender nonconformity, Howard's End by E.M. Forster for its description of non-traditional family, Our Lady of The Flowers by Jean Genet because of the rejection of the conformity of property, Giovanni's Room (& everything James Baldwin wrote) because of the search & discovery of personal identity.
Who are your influences?
Nadar, Sander, David Bowie, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Arbus, Frank O'Hara, Duane Michals, Claude Cahun, Walker Evans, Nina Simone, Peter Hujar, Constantine Cavafy, Derek Jarman, Gilbert & George.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
I have always gained access to various communities through collaboration and affinity. I never photograph if I am not deeply committed. Rapport with a subject is a magical process like any relationship. I give this a lot of thought and time, especially now with the external challenges of iPhones, TikTok and Instagram. As the survivors of the generation most impacted by the AIDS epidemic age, there is an urgent need to create images that link past struggles to present and future identities.
What impact would you like your art to have?
The significance of my work (if any) lies in preserving and expanding queer cultural memory.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
Anything by the brilliant Gilbert & George.
Is there anything you want to add?
Onward!

Blue Boy
Project statement

All my work is about visibility, accountability, personal history from a queer perspective.

This series began in 2022 when I saw Blue Boy (1770) by Thomas Gainsborough in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

“Few other paintings in art history have become such a powerful symbol of non-conformist gender identity and same-sex attraction

The Blue Boy strikes the same pose as classical sculptures – considered to be the height of masculine elegance in the 18th Century .
The painting had created a platform for gender identity to become blurred – Blue Boy could be either masculine or feminine in the fluid world of theatrical performance.

Another dimension to the story concerns the writer and leader of the Aesthetic Movement, Oscar Wilde. Wilde dressed in extravagant historically inspired clothing, frequently with knee-breeches, velvet jackets, cloaks and broad-brimmed hats in homage to painters like Gainsborough. In one photograph taken by Napoleon Sarony in 1882, Wilde, in swanky buckled shoes and knickerbockers, struck the exact pose of Blue Boy.”
Matthew Wilson, BBC.com, 21 January 2022

michael james o’brien
@michael74obrien