Abstract

The first hermaphrodite photographs date from 1860 by Nadar. They are mostly framed by an anatomical and medical perspective according to which hermaphroditism is a pathology. However, one can read something much more ambiguous in this series. Other relationships are played at the margins of categories of gender, sex, sexuality, reality and fiction. I propose to re-read these photos according to the perspective of what I call a “reserve of imagination.” Reserve of imagination consists of dream visions from which new universes emerge. It also emphasizes the potential for heterotopic places to remain marginalized. This other interpretation of Nadar was developed in the photographic sense of the term; it developed afterwards through the work of SMITH, French contemporary artist working among other things on gender. The very idea of indeterminacy, which constitutes SMITH's queer thinking and aesthetics, was already present in Nadar's notable use of blurring and framing. SMITH's photographs of intersex people radically overturn the anatomical and medical gaze: intersex is no longer a pathology. If, the medical thought of the 19th and early 20th century would have liked to visually include hermaphrodites in the category of the degeneration, it did not succeed, thanks to this reserve of imagination.

摘要

第一张雌雄同体照片由纳达尔于 1860 年拍摄。它们大多是从解剖学和医学的角度出发的，根据这些观点，雌雄同体是一种病​​理学。然而，人们可以在本系列中读到一些更加模糊的内容。其他关系则在性别、性别、性取向、现实与虚构等类别的边缘发挥作用。我建议从我所谓的“想象力储备”的角度重新阅读这些照片。想象力的储备由梦境组成，新的宇宙从中出现。它还强调了异位场所保持边缘化的可能性。对纳达尔的另一种解释是在该术语的摄影意义上发展起来的。后来，它通过法国当代艺术家史密斯（SMITH）的作品而发展起来，史密斯是一位致力于性别问题的当代艺术家。不确定性的概念本身，构成史密斯酷儿思维和美学的这一点，已经出现在纳达尔对模糊和框架的显着运用中。史密斯拍摄的双性人照片从根本上颠覆了解剖学和医学的视角：双性人不再是一种病态。如果 19 世纪和 20 世纪初的医学思想希望在视觉上将雌雄同体纳入退化范畴，那么由于想象力的保留，它没有成功。