Tagger Yancey

Tagger is a queer photographer, photo editor, and fine artist originally from Rochester, New York. He earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012, and has lived in Brooklyn since.

Come Back Soon

Come Back Soon is an entreatment, a plea. The series represents a desire for everything to go back to “normal.” However, this has come to be my normal, and the images reveal an attempt at reconciling the difficulties of anxiety.

There’s a pervading sense of fear. A large part of this distress is the dread of death and dying. In the series, a bird’s severed wing lies atop a piece of bark; the bird is gone. A palm frond, commonly used decoratively at funerals and graves, is a signifier of loss as well.

As a queer person, I grew up with insecurities surrounding my body, my mannerisms, my self. I struggled with dissociation and dysmorphia. When I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder in my mid-20s, I took one step closer to understanding the complex reasons behind my depression.

I realized that I didn’t have to live with this anxiety and have begun to reconcile.

To view more of GF Tagger Yancey’s work please visit his website.