Luca Varano
                                                                                     
  1. Cruising In America: East & West
  2. A Case Study of Southern Reclamation
  3. Notes on the Fabrication of American Masculinity
  4. Death with Distance
  5. Erotic Motion Studies
  6. Self-Portraits
  7. Male Forms


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A Case Study of Southern Reclamation

2026, Digital

I met Tyler in the beginning of 2025. In the development of our connection, we exchanged stories of our upbringing. From her vivid stories Tyler described a relationship with her past that was visually ripe and emotionally resonant. It was apparent that our first project together would be an exploration of this. In this series, the ubiquitous forms of Americana through the queer experience are rehabilitated in Tyler’s vision. A LanaDelRey-ifiction, she embodies a mythologized version of the self realized from the sultry dreams of youth. Tyler moves through the cinematized landscape of her past as if she were Marilyn Monroe in River of No Return. 

“A Case Study of Southern Reclamation” is a study of return, revisiting memories of life after one has undergone the process of self discovery. It is an investigation into how an individual contends with life before understanding oneself. Using the set as a placeholder for her small town, Tyler encounters artifacts which evoke this progression. Much like the experience of smelling your high school perfume as an adult, and the associations it conjures. To pin one feeling is impossible, but to portray a memory with a photograph is transient. The past becomes something open. Not to replace what existed, but to sit beside it. 

When envisioning this character of the idealized southern woman that Tyler would perform we looked to iconic figures of the American south— Tammy Wynette, Priscilla Presley, Dolly Parton, or any honky-tonk girl who embodied the idea that “the higher the hair, the closer to God.” 

A special thanks to Tyler for taking the time to sit with me. More than any other work I have made, this project is a partnership. 




©2026
Luca Varano
All rights reserved.
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