In the South, the term shirttail kin means an honorary relative, or one’s chosen family. The Texas artist Chivas Clem uses photography to document his shirttail kin, a community of men he’s befriended over the years in his hometown of Paris, Texas, many of them “drifters, addicts, and former felons.” The photos, taken in an old Victorian house that the artist converted into his studio, capture subjects smoking, eating, bathing, mostly in the nude. Against the backdrop of a crumbling rural town, the photographs embrace a host of contradictions: traditional masculinity and queerness, violence and vulnerability, sleeping and guns. The result is a fresh and nuanced portrayal of these young and neglected Americans. —Paulina Prosnitz
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
Chivas Clem: Shirttail Kin
Chivas Clem, A Drifter on My Bed, 2018.
When
Oct 17, 2024 – Jan 12, 2025
Where
Etc
Photo courtesy of the artist