Blog on Mapplethorpe’s exploration of Gender Identity

     Robert Mapplethorpe extensively explored gender identity both in his life and in his work.  After viewing some of his pieces, I couldn’t think of anything else but his emphasis on gender identity and sexuality. In a majority of his works I observed that they either involved a nude man, a nude woman, or a self-portrait of himself (which also may have been nude). This may tie in with Mapplethorpe’s exploration of his on sexuality, his work often displaying (sometimes blatantly) his homosexuality. But his work, though it may be explicit at times, reflects something significant. It reflects the idea of the acceptance of one’s body and  sexuality and encourages the viewer to explore these ideas while looking at his photographs.