Sanctuary
Exhibition + Film
2024
16mm to digital, 24 mins
Sanctuary explores queer spirituality and utopian sexualities through the figure of Purusha Androgyne Larkin (1934–1988), a monk, pioneering gay filmmaker, and self-proclaimed cosmic-erotic mystic. Larkin’s 1981 book, The Divine Androgyne, challenged repression with a spiritual vision rooted in eroticism and presented a radical path to cosmic-erotic consciousness through ‘extreme’ forms of sexual pleasure. Sanctuary explores Larkin's attempt to form a utopian, pleasure-based spiritual community, and considers the complex legacies of his ideas in queer culture. Shot on 16mm, the film weaves together the voices of Larkin’s friends and followers, creating a portrait in absentia of a figure ahead of his time.
Originally shown as part of
Sam Ashby: Sanctuary
San Mei Gallery, London
27 September – 16 November 2024
San Mei Gallery︎︎︎
e-flux Review︎︎︎
Camera: Sam Ashby & Mariah Garnett
Editor: Pablo Mazzolo
Sound: Joe Campbell
Music: Leslie Deere
Grade: William Glass
Featuring: Ron Athey, Guy Baldwin, Ganymede Cupbearer, Revé Douglas, Jack Fritscher, Hunter Hargraves, Mark Hemry, Rob Hopcke, Guy Seiler
Commissioned by San Mei Gallery, with support from Arts Council England and the Arts & Humanities Research Council
Sanctuary explores queer spirituality and utopian sexualities through the figure of Purusha Androgyne Larkin (1934–1988), a monk, pioneering gay filmmaker, and self-proclaimed cosmic-erotic mystic. Larkin’s 1981 book, The Divine Androgyne, challenged repression with a spiritual vision rooted in eroticism and presented a radical path to cosmic-erotic consciousness through ‘extreme’ forms of sexual pleasure. Sanctuary explores Larkin's attempt to form a utopian, pleasure-based spiritual community, and considers the complex legacies of his ideas in queer culture. Shot on 16mm, the film weaves together the voices of Larkin’s friends and followers, creating a portrait in absentia of a figure ahead of his time.
Originally shown as part of
Sam Ashby: Sanctuary
San Mei Gallery, London
27 September – 16 November 2024
San Mei Gallery︎︎︎
e-flux Review︎︎︎
Camera: Sam Ashby & Mariah Garnett
Editor: Pablo Mazzolo
Sound: Joe Campbell
Music: Leslie Deere
Grade: William Glass
Featuring: Ron Athey, Guy Baldwin, Ganymede Cupbearer, Revé Douglas, Jack Fritscher, Hunter Hargraves, Mark Hemry, Rob Hopcke, Guy Seiler
Commissioned by San Mei Gallery, with support from Arts Council England and the Arts & Humanities Research Council