Sperm Weaver II, 2009
Digital C-Print on Hahnemuhle photo rag Paper
24 x 32 inches, Edition of 4
In Shivans works, gender identity and gender typing emerge neither as biologically determined nor inevitable, but as a result of moment-to-moment interactions with the immediate social environment. Inevitably, a spectrum of representations of masculinity emerges - including works that deal with effeminacy, and homosexual and homosocial desires. Masculinity is not just represented as the simple opposite of femininity. For instance, his video, photographic and performance works especially Sperm Weaver, serve to depict an aggressively male, yet gender-bending homoerotic identity.