Collected Item: “tattooer”
Your Name
Orne Gil
Your Pronouns
she
Instagram handle, if any
@orne.gil
Work Title
tattooer
Work Year (We are not accepting images older than 5 years)
2023-2025
[Image Rights] Do you confirm that you hold the rights to this image?
Yes
[Eligibility] The Curve Photo Contest proudly centers and uplifts people who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer women and nonbinary people. Please share how you self-identify, using language that feels most accurate to you. Feel free to include all intersections of your identity. (Examples: lesbian, trans person of color, Latinx queer woman, radical faery, butch, etc.)
Lesbian
[Artist Statement] Tell us more about your photo by sharing a brief artist statement OR answering this prompt: "This is what being ______ means to me..." (Max. 100 words)
To me, being visibly queer means reclaiming the gaze. I'm documenting moments of intimacy or daily life that the norm often erases. My work transforms these photo sessions into illustrations and tattoos that serve as tools for empowerment. It is about celebrating dissident bodies and their right to desire and be desired. Through this lens, I aim to reconfigure social standards, showing that our existence is not just a political statement, but a beautiful, erotic, and soulful reality that belongs in the spotlight of contemporary art
[Visual Description] Describe your photo so we can provide alt-text. Example: "Two women holding hands and smiling as they walk in a pride parade, surrounded by rainbow flags."
This is Suzanne, a trans DJ captured amidst the raw, sticker-plastered walls of Kotti, Berlin. This portrait documents the early, tender stages of her transition, framed by the city's unapologetic urban soul. There is a profound, lived-in melancholy in her gaze that feels strikingly real—a quiet moment of self-reflection held against the chaotic backdrop of the streets. It’s a snapshot of a journey in progress, where vulnerability meets the grit of Berlin’s underground scene
[Agreement] In the event that you win the 2026 Curve Photo Contest, do you consent to having your photograph printed for the sole purpose of displaying at The Curve Foundation's one-day event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA) during Lesbian Visibility Week? The Curve Foundation will cover printing costs, but will not cover costs for mailing the print after the event ends.
Yes
[Agreement] Do you consent to The Curve Foundation storing, sharing, and using this image and its description as we deem appropriate, including disseminating on our social media, website, and Curve Archive and Curve Quarterly?
Yes
[Agreement] By checking 'I understand' below, I acknowledge that this contest upholds values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I confirm that my submission does not contain anti-LGBTQ+ or other discriminatory, hateful, or exclusionary content.
I understand