Tom of Finland documentary screens at “The Darkroom”

TOM OF FINLAND Leather Brotherhood, 1982, Lithograph, AP 1, © 1982 Tom of Finland Foundation

Daddy and the Muscle Academy is the only film about Tom of Finland in which he himself appears. In it, the artist talks about his experiences during World War II and the motivation for his work. Other artists, such as Isaac Julien and Nayland Blake, describe the fascination that Tom’s fetishist world exerts on them. A comprehensive retrospective of his drawings is juxtaposed with images of an underground cinema quality in which bodies move like gladiators to darkly mechanical techno sounds. Tom of Finland’s subcultural icons deconstructed mainstream perceptions of male Homosexuals at the time; they still inspire the Queer community today to understand the body as political destiny, to adapt it to one’s own identity and make it visible.

Published: 27th May 2021

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