Caused by Nature

Exhibition of photographs by Luxembourg artist Pit Reding. His brightly-lit pictures show different shapes and forms of queer relationships.

Pit Reding uses his photography to document and explore issues of queerness and representation, and to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community in and around Luxembourg. In this project “Caused by nature”, he focuses on the diversity of queer couples. Through brightly-lit pictures, he confronts viewers with the reality that queer relationships exist in many different shapes and forms. The blunt point of view that he adopts, captures the sense of power that can be drawn from looking beyond heteronormative standards. By placing each couple in differing outdoor sceneries, the artist wants to convey that LGBTQIA+ relations are something deeply natural, that can be traced back to ancient civilisations as well as the animal world. Thus, the artist’s sets become a safe space in which each and everyone can let their walls down and be unapologetically themselves. The blazing light that illuminates each of the pictures from the series represents the magical quality of love itself. Not only does this refer to the love that unites people in a relationship, it also addresses the love one feels for oneself by accepting one’s gender identity and sexuality. In that way, the artist raises awareness to LGBTQIA+ people’s existence by capturing their realities as individuals and as couples.

For many years, the media representation of LGBTQIA+ people has played a fundamental role in reinforcing the stereotypes that queer relationships always have tragic endings. In reaction to that, Pit wants to establish more positive visibility for queer couples, thus using the power of his dramatic visuals to prove to LGBTQIA+ people that they can lead happy and healthy relationships. This series is not about a need to capture beauty per se: it is more about the commitment to documenting the relationships of people who deserve to be heard and seen as he himself says that ‘if I had seen more happy queer people represented in art, movies, or TV shows as a child, I probably would have felt less ashamed about myself and would have come out earlier.’

(written by Jil Kugener)

Organizer: Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Diplomatic representation of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Czech Republic