The acanthus has meant endurance and punishment, immortality and pain — it holds contradictions as naturally as it holds its own curling form. Here, William Morris's scroll winds across the body of a man whose proud stance already defies the concealment his era demanded. The embroidery does not illustrate his desire so much as make it visible: each coil of leaf a record of what had to stay hidden, the pattern insisting on beauty where the culture insisted on silence.
The model is Tony Sansone (1905–1987), an Italian-American credited as the first male physique icon and a foundational figure in the fitness revolution. His nude photographs were taken in the 1920s and 1930s.
Traces of Desire was presented in exhibition by the Queer Arts Festival and The Bureau of Queer Art in 2026.
The acanthus has meant endurance and punishment, immortality and pain — it holds contradictions as naturally as it holds its own curling form. Here, William Morris's scroll winds across the body of a man whose proud stance already defies the concealment his era demanded. The embroidery does not illustrate his desire so much as make it visible: each coil of leaf a record of what had to stay hidden, the pattern insisting on beauty where the culture insisted on silence.
The model is Tony Sansone (1905–1987), an Italian-American credited as the first male physique icon and a foundational figure in the fitness revolution. His nude photographs were taken in the 1920s and 1930s.
Traces of Desire was presented in exhibition by the Queer Arts Festival and The Bureau of Queer Art in 2026.
