The Roni Horn retrospective (Roni Horn aka Roni Horn) closed today at the ICA Boston after traveling from the Tate Modern and the Whitney. It was a beautiful and provocative show. And it was obvious from my very first glimpse of the artist—appearing in the lobby in a series of paired portraits at different ages—that Roni Horn is a lesbian. But it's not clear she wants you to know that.When I asked about the portraits, a nice twenty-something docent (she seemed more informed than your typical gallery guard) told me that many people, upon viewing the pictures, express confusion about whether Roni Horn is a man or a woman. Some straight people apparently cannot see beyond the heterocentrist binary.
The docent said she did not know whether Horn identifies as "gender queer" (I love these young people!), but she did say that Horn is interested in exploring identity, including her own. I've read that Horn describes herself as "private" and does not like to talk specifically about her sexuality. Conversely, I've also read that she is gay and out. Clearly, I'm in no position to confirm either way. But I can tell you that I bristle whenever lesbians who are otherwise public figures refuse to even name their sexuality because they claim they are "private" persons. Posing for a magazine photo with your chest bared disqualifies you as a private person, in my opinion. (The photo above appeared in W magazine in 2009.) Otherwise, I am in full support of Roni Horn choosing to look like Uncle Sheldon at the family Fourth of July party.I felt the same frustration with Susan Sontag, may she rest in peace, who repeatedly refused to publicly recognize the nature of her relationship with her lover, Annie Liebovitz. Sontag permitted Leibovitz to publish photos of her wrenching chemo experience, among other supremely private events. Yet Sontag and Horn retreat to the "privacy" excuse when it comes to discussing their lesbianism. Is it possible that the threat of homophobia is so great that even the most brave souls among us—in which category Sontag and Horn belong—quake at the prospect of being out?
I will give Horn the benefit of the doubt on this one. Her artistic message may require some ambiguity. She explained in one interview that she did not want to reveal the nature of her relationship with Margrét—the dripping, attentive Icelandic subject of You Are the Weather—because it would detract from the viewers' experience. The piece consists of 100 images of Margrét shoulder-deep in water, and in all of them she is staring at you. "You will never know what her relationship to me is," Horn said. "You may have a lot of perhaps erotic speculations about it, but that's part of the work. There is definitely an option to read the piece that way."
