Belgrade exhibition “Nightmare of All Fathers” asks why patriarchy fears homosexuality

Why does a patriarchal society see homosexuality as a threat, and what lies behind the fear of losing masculinity, power and control? These are the questions the artist Luka Jendrišek takes on in “Košmar svih očeva” (“The Nightmare of All Fathers”), an exhibition opening on Saturday, 17 October, at 1 p.m. at Galerija Novembar, Kursulina 22, Belgrade.

The title is inspired by “Mann gegen Mann” (“Man against Man”), a song by the German band Rammstein about a gay man whose sexuality those around him see as a threat to traditional values.

Starting from that idea, Jendrišek explores the fear of difference and of anything that challenges the established social order. In his works that fear takes the shape of vulnerable, wounded male bodies, far removed from conventional images of masculinity.

Castration recurs as a motif, a symbol of the loss of the power on which patriarchal ideals of manhood rest. Yet what a patriarchal society reads as loss can, for the individual, be a release from imposed expectations and social roles.

The exhibition is curated by Ana Simona Zelenović, who sums it up in the catalogue: “The nightmare of all fathers are the sons who renounce the inheritance of power.”

“Košmar svih očeva” runs at Galerija Novembar until 22 November.

Source: danas.rs, nedeljnik.rs. English adaptation: gay-serbia.com.