An Impossibly Normal Life by Matthew Finley

Four years ago, my mother offhandedly mentioned that I had an uncle who may have been gay, but he died soon after I was born. Hearing this thirty years after I had struggled to come out to my disapproving family sent my mind spinning. The thought of a family member going through some of the same things I did inspired me to create this story. At first, I pondered how to photograph his story but the idea of costuming a sitter or myself as my uncle felt wrong. The more I thought about it, the honesty and authenticity of vernacular photography fit with what I wanted to create. So, I started purchasing and collecting images from eBay. I cast an ‘average dark-haired guy’ (that may look a little like me) as my Uncle Ken and searched for him in photos from around the world with an eye to how they might serve my narrative. I named him Ken, after my college drama teacher, one of the first openly ‘out’ people I had ever known and who had helped me realize my truth about being gay. The story of Uncle Ken's life was inspired by what I could find. For instance, there were so many great photos of men being affectionate in the services that I had to create a period of his life in the Navy. As my collection grew to over 100 images, I organized the photos chronologically to keep track of the arc of his life. This inspired the idea of actually creating Uncle Ken’s vintage photo album, as if he had made it. Eventually, this inspired me to publish it as a book. To round out the story, I have included three letters of correspondence about his first heartbreak, a note to his family while feeling lonely in the Navy, and one from Grant, his fiancé, the night before their wedding. While this work is fictional, it speaks to the lack of positive queer stories from our past. There are few, positive "lineage stories" to feel a part of because so much in our past had to be hidden. Same sex and gender non-conforming lives have often been erased from history. This work steps into that space. Instead of returning to the hiding or shame of most pre-1970’s queer stories (a reality of how our world was, and in some cases, still is), I have created an alternate history where fluidity in gender and sexuality is the societal norm. Re-contextualized found photographs create a new life for my Uncle Ken, one full of acceptance, friends, and love, and show anyone struggling with identity today the joy of what could have been and can still be.