Calais'n porvarit, Pikku tanssijatar ja muita toisintoistoja: Kari Soinion sankarihahmot taidehistoriaa queeriyttämässä

The article examines Kari Soinio’s visual strategies of queering corporeal representations of gender in his photographic oeuvre, particularly in his works referencing art history. The author compares Soinio’s photographs with their historical ‘precursors’, such as Auguste Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais and Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer, reflecting on how Soinio’s contemporary images draw their content from historical iconography while simultaneously expressing a critical stance on gender norms in contemporary culture. The article additionally discusses the power of both contemporary and historical artworks to evoke emotion. The discussion thus interweaves the researcher’s queer gaze with men’s studies perspectives, art history, contemplation of the relationship between photography and sculpture, and a further focus on affect, art and corporeality. The theoretical discussion centres on the relationship between phallus and penis and the deconstruction of normative notions of masculinity and femininity.