this is not a drill

Research Background: The works presented for 'this is not a drill' transform the questions of representation asked by René Magritte's 'this is not a pipe' into a Queer position to examine the paradox of gay masculinity. Research Significance This creative research: This installation significantly adds to the ongoing debate on western gay male identity through referents of types with reflections of the self, announcing that this is no longer practice but real. What is not real is unreal or virtual, maybe even counterfeit. Its value is attested to by the following indicators: Selected for exhibition in 2012 by the review committee of Link Arts RMIT University and 2013 by the Print Center Philadelphia with Juror Irene Hofmann, Phillips Director & Chief Curator of SITE, Santa Fe, USA. Where the work was selected for the finalist category from 549 applicants. Research Contribution: By re-presenting and re-contextualising found images from The Age newspaper's Good Weekend, as a type of litmus test for the mainstream media's projection of male types, the works inquire into the construction and performance of male gender and sexual orientation. Through the repetition of images the gender play of sameness is offset by the difference of sexual orientation questioning identification and authenticity.