“Aurele Gould is a photographer based in Virginia with a BFA in Photography + Film from Virginia Commonwealth University. Aurele has received the 2020 VMFA Professional Fellowship Award, Distinguished Photographer Award from Alex Klein of the ICA Philadelphia, exhibited internationally at the Tasmeem Doha Conference in Qatar, and was awarded Best in Show by the VCU Photo department for the 2019 thesis exhibit ‘Photo Velvet’.

The ways in which visual language can be fruitfully articulated using gestures specific to non-men is at the core of Aurele’s work. Inversion as a concept has become critical to play with subversion, humor, and stereotypes. Aurele examines the function of stereotypes in queer coding; how they come to exist, when stereotypes are used, who can use them, and the complex practice in physical appearance that ‘queer aesthetic’ unfolds itself to be. Their current practice establishes nuance and play within constructed binaries with visuals of strong, muscular bodies, skin that sweats, bends, and gets dirty. Athleticism has been reserved for boys, and Aurele is interested in celebrating non-male masculinity, something that traditionally does not belong. A moment of transference among women is observed through objects like pre-wrap, which centers care and intimacy. Weaving between a constructed reality and a lived experience, Aurele’s images derive from a personal drive to create a thesaurus of visual language for non-men. What does it mean to be a giver? What does it mean to be a receiver? For all of time, Aurele’s imagery exists as a love letter to all the masc women and non-binary people in their life.”