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  • Color photograph of Coombs lying nude on a couch with his catheter visible above his penis. A Black man, whose face is covered by Coombs’s own, holds Coombs from behind.

Robert Andy Coombs

Cuddle on Couch

Maker

Robert Andy Coombs (American, b. 1987)

Title

Cuddle on Couch
from the series CripFag

Year

2019

Medium

  • Inkjet print on metallic paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Inkjet print on metallic paper

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 101.6 x 152.4 cm (40 x 60 inches) (sight)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2021.62

Type

  • Photographs

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 17: Variance

This issue complements the RISD Museum exhibition Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability, on view through October 9, 2022.

Exhibition History

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

Here photographer Robert Andy Coombs captures himself in what appears to be a postcoital moment of intimacy with his collaborator, Dani. Coombs exposes his entire body while staring back at the viewer by way of the camera. His CripFag series--described by Coombs as “the sexual adventures of a gay quadriplegic photographer”--reclaims his sexual identity, making disability sexy.

“Being disabled, I don’t get to see my body or explore it very often, so photographing helps me appreciate it for what it is,” Coombs explains. “It shows all the different aspects of what makes my body unique and beautiful by showcasing intimate areas like my floppy crippled wrists and the tan lines where my splints lay, my suprapubic catheter, scars from my G-tube and tracheotomy, and my beautiful tattoos.”

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Robert Andy Coombs (American, b. 1987)
Cuddle on Couch; from the series CripFag, 2019
Inkjet print on metallic paper
Image/sheet: 101.6 x 152.4 cm (40 x 60 inches) (sight)
Mary B. Jackson Fund 2021.62

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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