Laser paper cut on firm, bleached cardboard, 80 x 60 cm, framed, ed. 12/50, Städtische Sammlung Erlangen
Sonja Yakovleva illustrates that the fault lines of social conflicts do not only run along various sexual identities and lifestyles, but also between social and economic classes. An outstanding example of this is her work OnlyFans, which is based on visual materials that the artist collected during the Covid pandemic.
During this time, which was characterized by curfews and lockdowns, the eponymous video platform OnlyFans became very popular. People of all sexual orientations who had lost their jobs produced pornographic material there privately to earn a living. With his lascivious pose, the anonymous man in Yakovleva's portrayal thus embodies, on the one hand, the regained sex positivity of the queer scene since the HIV virus could be successfully contained thanks to modern medication and contraceptive methods and, on the other hand, the latest technological possibilities of self-exploitation in the context of a hedonistic, erotic media spectacle.
Malte Lin-Kröger
