.: 30,000!

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

30,000!

Sometime around 7 tonight the blog hit 30,000 unique visitors I wanted to take a moment to recognize some of the people who left comments over the past few years... These were some of the many nice comments that really motivated me to almost 300 postings so far! Thanks again for everyones kind words... Christopher

On the images:

For post "Sunny, thank you for the gleam that shows its grace...": "Love the nudes! She has beautiful skin and love the contours of the body! Yes, you have succeeded! :-)" From Blogger Brothalovacafe

For post "Mr. Smith's Been to Washington!": Chris- "What an excellent interview. I would like to thank you and Lewis for sharing a part of life with me. I first became interested in your spot because of a your photos, you are an excellent artist. Now I am looking forward to more to come. Thank you!" From Shek's forbidden colors

For post "Leading the way...": Chris , "Great interview. Thank you for using your forum to, again, highlight the beauty that is Black Men. Jy certainly is inspiring and gives me something else to asprire to. Be Blessed! Lou" From Lewis Smith

For post "Happy Mothers Day!": "Very beautiful, touching and empowering. Love the choice of song also. I'm sure your mom is very proud of you! Thanks for sharing these personal photos..." From Ocean Morriset

For post "Coop at the Church Street Fettish Fair!": "Wow, man. Love the pictures on the blog. I can wait until I come to Canada!!" From Blogger Collective Guy

For post post "There's No Place Like Home (pt. 2)": "Glad to hear that someone else who isn't from here likes this great city of ours! Go Toronto! Great blog by the way! " From Blogger Shabaka

For post "Mom's Birthday": "I didn't know your mom, but it's her I want to thank for havng such a sensitive and gifted son." From Ocean Morrisett

For post "Herschel in Montreal": "Chris!!! They turned out sooooo good. You are so good at your kraft! It was such a pleasure to meet you." From Nicole Ryan

For post "More Water!": "I really love the way the ripples in the water radiate out from the models body, almost as if he were "dropped" into the water from above. This is a magnificent photo!" From Blogger c0nn3ction

For post "Black & White": "Such sensitivity in his face.... gorgeous work!" From Aaron Morrow

On the writing:

For post "What Remains":"Thanks for sharing. It made me cry." From Blogger Afrohomo

For post "What Remains":"The experiences and photos you shared are very moving and I trust (for you) very healing. Perry was fortunate to have you in his life. Thanks for sharing." From Blogger Brothaluvacafe

For post "What Remains":"Wow, sitting here with tears in my eyes as I reflect on what you have just shared with us. extremely powerful and insightful, thanks for the reality check that I needed to today. From Blogger Shek's forbidden colors

For post "Contemplating Memorial Day 2007":"Beautiful post Chris! I was in the first gulf war, Operation Desert Storm. I know what it's like to be in a war you don't believe in. I feel for our troops. As much patriotism the government tries to force feed us, I know these brave young men and women want to be home with their families. I know that feeling, and it hurts. I can only pray that this war doesn't get worse, before it gets better. Thanks for the post..." From Ocean Morrisett

For post "A Letter To My Mother": "This was an absolutely gorgeous entry, Christopher. If your mother was still here today, I’m sure she would appreciate and value the raw honesty, growth and indescribable beauty laced in your words. Sending you hugs and condolences. Your friend, LaLi. "

For post "M.O.C.": "What a Terrific post! Thank you for documenting this important aspect of the community. It's important that the world knows that SGL life isn't all about a party! Your images will go into the timecapsule of our lives, and one day, someone, somewhere will open it up and see that we have indeed lived and loved, through more ways than sex! Happy New Year to you! Keep up the great work! Peace, Ocean"

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

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The Dance Through Life Project

Photograph project dedicated to capture the Art of Dance within the parameters of everyday life. The project hopes to capture the innate relationships between dance and everyday life. Images of dance performed in non-traditional locales hopefully demystifying dance as being inaccessible and drawing the obvious metaphor that while all can not express life with such movement and physicality, we all love with our own signature grace. Therefore we all dance.

Order your copy today by clicking on the books above!

Through New Eyes: The Photography of Christopher Cushman by Rinaldo Walcott

The Black male body remains an enigma despite its over representation in the public sphere. The dominance of hip hop culture globally, driven in part, but not exclusively by the innovative sounds of rap music have made Black men a standard by which Black men and other men judge themselves in contemporary culture. However, there is a paradox, because despite the prevalence of hip-hop’s popular global impact, Black men are also still some of the most despised men in Western culture. Stereotypes of criminality, disease and danger still abound and organize Black men’s lives, even within hip hop culture. Thus representations of Black men tend to be much more restricted, than open-ended. The struggle to bring Black men into complex open-ended representations has been an on-going historical struggle. One of the most potent forms of representation in the last one hundred and fifty years has been the photograph. Photography has offered the promise to represent the real in a manner that has both seduce its viewers and baffled them with its artifice. Black male photographic representations in the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have promised to rescue Black men from the confines of mis-representation and stereotype. One of the most difficult and complicated circumstances of Black male representations has been in the realm of representing their sexuality. Black men’s sexuality is still over-burdened by a perceived threat and danger, especially now in the hyped-up era of the downlow. Then along comes Cushman. I first hear of Christopher Cushman’s photography from my boyfriend. He told me of a guy who was taking photographs of black nudes based upon how they wanted themselves to be seen, not how he posed them as his models. When I met Cushman he confirmed that he did indeed work from the models’ suggested posed and not impose his own. The idea is a great one because it allows the models agency in choosing what they believe to be an adequate representation of who they are. While it is now true that in contemporary culture subjects have learned to play for the camera, offering us artifice on command, this artifice can be understood as exposing inner senses of self and being. Cushman’s photography captures and reveals those inner desires. Look at me, many of the models seems to say. But look at me anew, is also what they seem to project and insist on. Cushman’s eye lavishes these Black male bodies with glimmers of light revealing their nuance personalities. While most of the men are naked their individuality comes clearly through. And yet, their eyes too reveal that they belong to a community, a family and possess desires, fantasies and needs. In these photographs, as viewers we are given new eyes to see beyond our inner voyeur. Cushman channels, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and many other artists, commercial and amateur photographers who seek to rescue the Black male body from the disastrous depths of mis-representation, and who almost always fall short. The conversations that his models create between his work and others whether unconscious or not reveal the profound influence of the image in our time. However, in Cushman’s eyes the Black male body is not being rescued, instead it stands on a self-made pedestal, not arrogantly announcing its existence but coolly (its signature) singing its own praisesong as swathes of light and behind the camera love washes over it. In each moment a small but significant revelation is made. Each revelation offers us the opportunity of an Epiphany – to think a thought about a Black man that we have not thought before. Professor Rinaldo Walcott is a cultural critic and Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto. He lives and writes in Toronto.

FIERCE! Being Black, Being Gay in America

"What Chris has done with this important collection of images, Fierce: Being Black, Being Gay in America, A Photographic Essay, is to seek, lift, and affirm the identity and visibility of men-who love-men and express it in many ways. His photographs display Midwest American men from the outlandish and flamboyant, to the subdued and subtle. You’d think these were “ladies who lunch;” muscular men dressed for the “Park” in lace, and floppy hats to give effect for all to see. Brothers connecting in places we know are safe, such as our nightclubs, the discos, and special events targeting our interests.

The importance of Fierce is paramount: all men are created equal, and share a space on earth. These portraits of men have to be recognized as God’s beauty and not His damnation. Time will thank those who were strong and dared enough to express themselves for all to see and appreciate in a manner that’s loving and creative. Time will also thank us for not living in a paranoid state of mind, and afraid of our own shadows. Remember, this cluster of work isn’t Robert Mappelthope’s approach to black imagery, but the approach of documenting men as they wanted to be seen: with and without sexual stimulation, for shock value."

Curtis A. Lipscomb
Executive Director Kick – The Agency for L-G-B-T African-Americans
Detroit Michigan / 2005
www.e-kick.com