Dean Sameshima's Anonymous Series Gains Visibility at Venice Biennale, Documenting Queer Ephemera

At the 2024 Venice Biennale, Dean Sameshima's artworks 'Anonymous Faggots' and 'Anonymous Homosexual' captured the interest of attendees, who shared their images on social media. With a career spanning over three decades focused on queer environments, Sameshima's art explores themes of absence and preservation. His 2022 series 'being alone' showcases blurred photographs taken in Berlin's adult theaters, intentionally omitting explicit elements to allow viewers to create their own stories. Drawing from his experiences as a gay East Asian man in the LA punk scene, he addresses representation voids and the loss of physical spaces. The 'Anonymous' series takes inspiration from John Rechy's 1977 work 'The Sexual Outlaw' and Alcoholics Anonymous typography. Additionally, Sameshima has produced screenprinted pieces and previously chronicled gay bathhouses in 'In Between Days Without You' (1997). He also undertakes various jobs, including apartment cleaning. This interview was conducted by Amelia Abraham.