Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

The Chicago-based performance artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger are partners in art and life. The husband-and-husband team work together and independently to address themes of queer identity, politics, and intimacy. They gained national attention for their time-based work Untitled (Grave), where they dug parallel graves, lay down in them, and then used their fingers to dig a tunnel between them so that they could hold hands—a symbol of their undying love. While this photograph documents that performance, its dual-paned format adds meaning. Recalling an old-fashioned stereoscopic portrait in its symmetry (aided by the men’s similar appearance), the angle of bodies pulling away from each other suggests that the forces of nature and society are conspiring to break them apart.