A Suspected History

A Suspected History examines the relational aesthetics between my grandfather Sabin (1924-2005) and myself. I first started this project back in 2016 when I started noticing that as my aesthetic developed further it bared a striking resemblance to my own grandfather’s artwork. As I began to look through his old studio I began to find artifacts that had a connotation to queer iconography to them: jockstraps, swimming briefs, and some interesting snapshots he developed when he was stationed in the South Pacific during World War II. It was after this that I started to ponder the idea that my grandfather was in fact queer like myself. It had always been suspected but never proven in my family. It wasn’t until 2022 that my Gay Uncle Sabin Jr. told me that my grandfather had come out to him during the 1980s.

A Suspected History saw me adopt the title of an Artistic Detective as I began digging for the truth on my grandfather’s sexuality. I was determined to prove this through my exhibition and lead my audience to finding the answers on their own. I approached this as an Installation rather than a series of images because I liked the idea of inviting people into this dark space that explored the wonderment of my grandfather’s history. I purposefully snooted the lighting to have the resemblance of a detective moving through a space with a flashlight.

A Suspected History served as my MFA Thesis Exhibition at San Jose State University.