The Queerious Murse Series

Julius Poncelet Manapul's work addresses themes of post-colonialism, immigration, diaspora, sexual identity, and identity construction, focusing on the personal hybrid nature of Filipino culture and queer identities. The Queerious Murse Series are constructed brand name purses (Murse - Male Purse) using gay porn images to create the logo patterns. They relate commodity, obsession, compulsivity and fetishism of brand names, using male bodies to sell the ideal Homonormative Male; manufacturing the unattainable utopian image.  We buy the physicality and tangible objects as commodities, as well as buying into the intangible ideas and thoughts to dress up our own cultural identities. 

Manapul's Murses mimic the idea of commoditized branding and the collected exotified otherness that struggles for a place within these idealized Homonormative conventions. They need to be questioned and changed to make queer bodies of colors visible.