Philom\u00e8ne\u2019s work is \u201cqueerly decadent\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200anot because they are explicitly referencing late nineteenth-century decadence, but because their work is self-reflexively transgressive, and it revels in tattooed skin, shiny surfaces, materiality, and visual pleasure. In their 2022 monograph Puberty<\/em>,3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - Laurence Philom\u00e8ne, Puberty<\/em> (Atlanta: Yoffy Press, 2022).<\/span> Philom\u00e8ne documents their life from winter 2019 until fall 2020, sharing experiences such as taking testosterone (Philom\u00e8ne took their first dose of testosterone on April 20, 2018), isolating during the pandemic, depression, and moving in with their partner, an artist named Nina. The book, which includes 188 photographs, is absolutely bursting with saturated colour. Lush oranges, ocean blues, forest greens, shimmering purples, and hot pinks are only some of the hues in a text that offers its readers a visually striking glimpse into the life of a trans, non-binary individual. The result is incredibly moving as well as joyful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The photographs provide visual evidence of a queer person who struggles and perseveres, and the images are filled with food, alcohol, drugs, decor, and textiles. Late nineteenth-century decadence became associated with drug consumption that was identified as excessive and deviant. In Puberty<\/em>, Philom\u00e8ne rejects the stigmatization of drug use, stating that using marijuana \u201cis a very grounding & healing practice for me.\u201d The whole text is a compassionate, gorgeous, empathetic gift to Philom\u00e8ne themself, and by extension, any other human reading and looking. As the artist writes at the beginning of the book: \u201cThis story is my offering to you. I am so grateful for your love & energy while reading it. I hope it ignites a light of positivity in your heart. XO Larry.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - Philom\u00e8ne, Puberty<\/em>, n.p.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drawing on academic and poet Dennis Denisoff\u2019s recent scholarship concerned with decadent ecology, I also want to propose that in the 2019 Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em> series by Philom\u00e8ne, they establish a decadent ecology that illuminates the ethical relationality amongst humans, the organic environment, and non-human animals. According to Denisoff, \u201cA decadent ecology such as that envisioned by [Algernon] Swinburne differs in being characterized by disruption, defilement, and excess operating beyond human comprehension, modeling, or management. Such an open ecology is decadent not only in its historical and cultural references but also in its destabilizing forms.\u201d5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 5 <\/a> - Dennis Denisoff, Decadent Ecology in British Literature and Art, 1860\u200a\u2014\u200a1910: Decay, Desire, and the Pagan Revival<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 7.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In early 2019, Philom\u00e8ne spent three weeks in Iceland, creating a series of self-portraits in which the artist posed nude in the rocky landscape. Philom\u00e8ne was in Iceland for an artist\u2019s residency, and as preparation, they had researched the Icelandic myth of the Hulduf\u00f3lk (invisible or hidden people), who are sometimes also described as elves. As they write in Puberty<\/em>, which includes several of the Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em> photographs, while taking the photographs, they \u201cthought a lot about trans bodies in nature\/as natural bodies.\u201d6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 6 <\/a> - Philom\u00e8ne, Puberty<\/em>, n.p.<\/span> For Philom\u00e8ne, the myth resonated with the marginalization of queer\/trans\/non-binary individuals who are at times perceived as either hyper-visible (read: threatening) or are actively attacked in the context of government policies ostensibly dedicated to the protection of basic human rights. Folklore revolving around the Hulduf\u00f3lk repeatedly alludes to sightings of these hidden people throughout the area, and these glimpses are usually marked by some anomaly in the landscape, such as a strange rocky formation or an unexpected explosion of colourful flowers. The survival and resilience of the Hulduf\u00f3lk in the extremes of Iceland\u2019s weather system is also central to the folklore, and this too resonated for Philom\u00e8ne, who was thinking about the survival and resilience of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities around the globe who face varying degrees of stigmatization, oppression, and physical violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As M\u00e9tis scholar of Indigenous studies Zoe Todd has proposed in an essay titled \u201cIndigenizing the Anthropocene\u201d: \u201cAn effective art of the Anthropocene is one that directly engages with the structural violences of heteropatriarchy and white supremacy as they shape discourse and praxis.<\/em>\u201d7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 7 <\/a> - Zoe Todd, \u201cIndigenizing the Anthropocene,\u201d in Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin, eds., Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environments and Epistemologies <\/em>(London: Open Humanities Press, 2015), 248\u200a\u2014\u200a49. Emphasis in original.<\/span> The survival not only of Iceland\u2019s \u201cinvisible people\u201d but also the survival of flora and fauna in the country\u2019s landscape functions as a powerful metaphor for the survivance of queer, trans, and non-binary individuals in the twenty-first century in a range of global contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philom\u00e8ne is also cognizant of the distinct violences that Indigenous Peoples have experienced due to colonialism in Canada, and they take an intersectional approach to thinking about post-COVID life. They write: \u201cI don\u2019t miss the old world before the pandemic. I am dreading going back to \u2018normal\u2019\/hope we never do. Thinking about the trauma of settler colonialism & late-stage capitalism. I think there are lies we\u2019ve been told to accept as truths that are quickly disintegrating right now\u200a\u2014\u200aI don\u2019t think people will stand for it much longer.\u201d8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 8 <\/a> - Philom\u00e8ne, Puberty<\/em>, n.p.<\/span> This passage strikes me as an important part of a dialogue that Todd is undertaking in her own text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The artist experienced a broad range of different bodily sensations posing in the Icelandic landscape. The moss depicted in some of the photographs is hundreds of years old and is extremely soft and cushy\u200a\u2014\u200aPhilom\u00e8ne describes it as \u201cnature\u2019s mattress\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200abut it covers volcanic rock, so lying on this particular kind of natural surface created difficulties in terms of bodily discomfort. In the photographs, Philom\u00e8ne\u2019s body is shot from a long distance, so they are dwarfed by the landscape. Yet they are still visible, one part of a greater whole. Philom\u00e8ne set out to mould themselves to each specific location; the artist wanted to \u201cconnect\u201d with the land.9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 9 <\/a> - Laurence Philom\u00e8ne, personal interview, August 31, 2019.<\/span> But posing for the self-portraits was extremely demanding physically, not least because they were vulnerable to the elements and unpredictable changes in the weather. Their solution to the physical discomfort was to be in their body as much as possible, entering what they describe as a \u201ctrance,\u201d or a meditative state. They were highly aware of their body and how it felt against the ground. It was an exercise in holistic living: weaving together the physical, mental, and emotional. With these photographs, Philom\u00e8ne continues to challenge viewers to think about bodies\u200a\u2014\u200atheir own and the bodies of others\u200a\u2014\u200awith gentleness and compassion, considering the ways that our identities are crafted out of embodied, affective, and relational experiences. For Philom\u00e8ne, Iceland\u2019s natural environment functions as a living metaphor for their understanding of trans\/queer\/non-binary lived experience. The interweaving of their body and the Icelandic landscape, both hard and soft, illustrates this fluid and inter-relational understanding of humans and non-human agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zoe Todd proposes turning \u201ctowards praxis that acknowledges the central importance of land, bodies, movement, race, colonialism, and sexuality.\u201d10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 10 <\/a> - Todd, \u201cIndigenizing the Anthropocene,\u201d 245.<\/span> In their Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em> photographs, as well as in their stunning book Puberty<\/em>, Philom\u00e8ne\u2019s vibrant, luscious, politically-grounded, and queerly decadent ecology demands that we meditate upon our own ways of being in the world and our ethical responsibilities to the land, human animals, and non-human animals alike. Philom\u00e8ne\u2019s work illuminates this kind of embodied, affective relationship with the natural world. As they state in the latter half of Puberty<\/em>: \u201cMy favorite willow tree always calms me down. She sways in the wind so beautifully.\u201d11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 11 <\/a> - Philom\u00e8ne, Puberty<\/em>, n.p.<\/span> <\/p>\n![\"Laurence-Philomene_morning-in-bed-with-nina\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_HD_Skelly_Laurence-Philomene_morning-in-bed-with-nina20220822-scaled.jpg\")
Morning in bed with Nina<\/em>, from the series Puberty<\/em>, 2019-2021.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Laurence-Philomene_pasteltestosterone\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_HD_Skelly_Laurence-Philomene_pasteltestosterone20220822-scaled.jpg\")
Pastel testosterone<\/em>, from the series Puberty<\/em>, 2019-2021.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Laurence-Philomene_mossy-hills\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_HD_Skelly_Laurence-Philomene_mossy-hills20220822-scaled.jpg\")
Mossy Hills<\/em>, from the series
Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em>, 2019.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Laurence-Philomene_lava-field\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_HD_Skelly_Laurence-Philomene_lava-field_lr20220829.jpg\")
Lava Field, from the series
Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em>, 2019.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Laurence-Philomene_orange-lichen\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_HD_Skelly_Laurence-Philomene_orange-lichen_lr20220829.jpg\")
Orange Lichen, from the series
Hulduf\u00f3lk<\/em>, 2019.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n