A very unique and moving book, this collection of images and poetry tells an eloquent story of the gay male spirit. The book is filled with sensuous, lush and magical images of naked men that have processed to create a dream-like land of joy. Contemplations of the Heart highlights men of many different ages, shapes, sizes and colors. The non-erotic, non-objectifying male nude photographic and digital images, and the meditation-style text, are reflective of positive self-image and self-acceptance, and it suggests how these may lead to a deeper sense of the spiritual self, most especially for gay men.
Peter Grahame has titled this collection of manipulated photographs CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE HEART: A BOOK OF MALE SPIRIT, PHOTOGRAPHY, DIGITAL IMAGING AND TEXT and while that may be as explicit a description of what lies between the two covers of this quiet little journal, it doesn't begin to explain the impact on the viewer/reader. Grahame has spent some ten years photographing his friends in the nude, friends of all ages and physical looks, and then taking these photographs and with the help of adding found objects to 'collage' onto his original images he finishes his work on these portraits with Adobe Photoshop. Each colorful image is then paired with poetic sayings by Grahame, and the result is a tender and warmly entertaining book of art. Here then is a monograph, celebrating men, friends and community, that instead of the usual 'perfect physical model' of Adonis like creatures in varying stages of seductive positions, are simply men, without the cover of clothing interacting with Grahame's thoughts and spiritual communication.
An example may help: on opposing pages Grahame has laced a seated young male against a starry sky holding a source of illumination with the accompanying poem - 'Instead of Dark Night of the Soul,/ let us experience a Bright Night of the Spirit!/ If we keep a star handy, the night will reveal much.../For out of the void all is created'. On the opposite page is a photograph of a a young male standing in front of a dazzling painted sunburst and the associated poem reads 'And the dawn brings a new light. So, instead of Spirit Warrior,/ let us be Spirit Dancers. Letting go! Rejoicing!/ For the sun is rising, and the bee is dancing on the lily.../ Magic is in every moment we live.'
Some of the artist's images are straightforward portraits in studio, such as the images of men playing musical instruments, while other images reveal painted bodies,nature superimposed on bodies, men alone and together, men young and beautiful and older and elegant. Some of Grahame's images reflect a surrealism bent while others resemble religious icons form various sources of cultures. Flowers abound, humor inserts, and there is always tenderness. This is the work of a man who loves his friends and who love his life and is sharing those compassions with the reader. At book's end he leaves us with the following illustrated poem:
It's difficult to
accept that the
life I lead
may be over at
any moment.
But when I do realize it,
a deep appreciation
for life, just as it is,
each moment, in all I do,
washes over me
and I can
experience joy
ever present,
and pass it on
to others.
And that is as quiet a summation of the effect of this book as anyone could write.
