Florian Hynam’s VHS Domesticity Quilt is a full sized quilt made up of quilt blocks in a star shaped design, in multiple colours, each different colour corresponding with a different scanned image from a collection of 1980s and 90s promotional leaflets for gay pornography, available to be viewed at home. These are from the artist’s collection of vintage gay magazines and ephemera which frequently appear in his work. The images are printed onto cotton fabric and combined with block colours and undyed calico.
The work combines the traditionally domestic craft of quilting, associated with homemaking and comfort, with the topic of gay pornography in the domestic space. Combining and exploring the ways in which these ideas both link and contrast within the expectations of what might be thought of as homely and domestic, or traditionally found on a quilt as well as the relationship between homosexuality and the domestic space, with the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. The act partially decriminalised homosexuality and permitted homosexual acts between two consenting adults aged 21 and above and in private, although there were restrictions based on what was considered to be private or not.
The quilt is part of Florian’s ongoing art and research project exploring the move of pornographic gay film, from the public space of the cinema or sex shop to the private and domestic space of the home, as was allowed by the introduction of VHS. As well as exploring the differences that can be seen in gay pornographic film before and after this drastic shift in technology (with films becoming less focused on narrative and featuring more depictions of sex than anything else) the project explores how the individuals watching gay pornography at this time might have experienced these changes, to understand this era of history with more depth.
The subject of vintage gay pornography is something Florian is drawn to within their practice, through a desire to represent gay cultural history in a way that is un-sanitised and doesn’t shy away from topics that can be seen as taboo. Pornographic media can be viewed as an indicator of the culture in which it was made. This is especially so within gay pornography; until more recently mainstream movies and media rarely depicted gay lives, meaning pornography can become a glance into areas of history that can otherwise be missed or overlooked and can give greater insight into questions of sexuality and taste at the time of its production.
