The 'New Yorker' magazine has received backlash for sharing on their Instagram account a nude photo of photographer, Michael Bailey-Gates. The picture has now resurfaced across social media platforms receiving massive backlash. This comes days after controversy over a Balenciaga campaign that showed children in bondage gear.
After the Balenciaga controversy, the controversial picture shared by the 'New Yorker' on their Instagram page started circulating across social media and received criticism, reported Daily Mail. The picture shows the photographer holding a baby in their hand and a corded electronic device.
Birthday, 2018 © Michael Bailey-Gates / courtesy The Ravestijn Gallery
It is captioned, "Hello—This is Michael Bailey-Gates (@michaelbaileygates). This week, I’m sharing a selection of my pictures, curated by Matt Leifheit (@mattelife), for a recent issue of Matte magazine. When I work on my personal life, open up to friends, and understand my relationships—that is when my work grows the most. The pictures come later. The magazine collects personal work, commissions I've shot, and portraits of other artists. In the issue’s foreword, the art historian Horace D Ballard (@horaceballard) writes, The existential drama of gender and being dissolves before Bailey-Gates lens. Bailey-Gates’s photographs don’t so much interrogate gender as bypass it."
It further states, "With these photos, I’m not just unconcerned with reading the gender of the bodies before me, it’s also futile. The photographic close-up is now an opportunity to collaborate, collude, and build the little life of a narrative where there was none. The subject becomes less important for who and what they are and dearer to us because of the network of intimacies and experiences they represent.” Self-Portrait on My Birthday, in July, 2018. "
Who is Michael Bailey Gates ?
Bailey is popular as a photographer and model. The 30-year-old photographer is Rhode Island born and currently resides in New York City. They completed their degree in BFA in Photography in 2015. Bailey has associated their school with the photo studio and eventually assisted photographer Ryan McGinley in 2013. Bailey debuted through a work called "A Horse The Rough" with New York Times in 2018, which portrayed photographs without the gender norms traditional to classical portraiture.
Bailey conducted his first solo-exhibition, 'A Glint In The Kindling,' in 2021 at The Ravestijn Gallery in Amsterdam, which gained great reviews. According to New York Times Style Magazine, "the display evoked the aesthetics of classical portraiture as they upend conventions of gender and beauty." They were also criticized for one of its Valencia campaigns for its homophobic representation in the ad. Bailey also modeled for brands DKNY and CK One and the publications i-D, Arena Homme +. Meanwhile, Bailey was listed as W Magazine's ten young artists to follow in 2018. and in 2020, he was named one of the Cultured magazines Young artists 2020, reported sources.
He stated in his interview with Ravelin, "My friends don’t need me to take photos of them; I do that for me. They can do that themselves. I think the medium of photography no longer belongs to a specific group of people, but is for everyone today. People document themselves and their own “subcultures” now, with their own camera—and you can see and share yourself online via Instagram, Facebook, etc." He has also explained how pictures can be used to send strong political messages. He said, "Yeah, I think joy is a powerful thing. It’s different for everyone, but I think it’s a more accessible emotion for people—humor and happiness as a way to express an issue."
New Year, 2021 © Michael Bailey-Gates / courtesy The Ravestijn Gallery
'Shows everything wrong with the world in one pic'
Netizens quickly reacted to the cover as it resurfaced. A user said, "Not entirely sure what I'm looking at. What's the cord for?." "We are slowly being desensitized. Nothing will be "taboo" anymore, but perfectly "normal". Society is in a fast downward spiral unless we start pushing back and saying we're not OK with this," wrote another. A tweet claimed, "Shows everything wrong with the world in one pic." A user added, "Is he the child's father? And skin on skin is best done in the comfort of your own surroundings, not for a magazine shoot." Another added, "This looks very disturbing what is he doing with the electrical thing." A user claimed, "This is considered “artistic” in the realm of new-coming fashion editorials. The photographer is Michael Bailey-Gates, who shot this for Matte Magazine and #AMIParis 2021. Same child in the different shoots, terrified face in the cover photo." Another stated, "We need to save our children."
