Caution Note

This essay on the work of Liam Benson, commissioned and published by Runway issue 16: 'Disappearance' in 2010, is available at their online and print archive, but will not be re-published here. Runway redacted the article's imagery online at the request of the artist in July 2020.

In placing a critical framework around the queer identity politics of this work at that time, I failed to acknowledge and address its cultural appropriation. For that, I am deeply sorry for the role I played in adding oxygen to a history of racist representation, and for any harm caused in writing on this material.

Daniel Mudie Cunningham
January 2022