Marc Ohrem-Leclef

�🎉 Named as a Finalist: Humbled to share that a portfolio of my ongoing work ‘As far apart as the Earth is from the Sky’ was included in the list of 20 Finalists in this years’ Aperture Portfolio Prize! Congratulations to all the fellow artists, and the prize winner @feliperomero30 ! @aperturefnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #apertureportfolioprize #aperturefund #aperturemagazine #apertureportfolioprize2022 #published #indianmen #queerindia #queerartist #masculinities #expressionsoflove #loveislove #marcleclef #queerlives #desiportraits #fineartphotography #mediumformatphotography #documentaryphotography #contemporaryphotography #newphotography #desi_diaries #brooklynartist #lgbtqindia🌈 #lgbtq #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky

Out now: Le Monde @lemondefr did a thing! I am honored to share the publication of a portfolio of Zameen Aasman Ka Farq -As far apart as the Earth is from the Sky- in M Magazine, the magazine of Le Monde’s weekend volume. The portfolio is framed by the cover featuring the first female French Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, the esteemed Annie Ernaux, and an exposé on Brazilian presidential candidate, Lula da Silva. If you know about my past work ‘Olympic Favela’ in Brazil, you understand how meaningful this is to me. Thank you @tanvimishra for making the connection, the crew of @breda_photo for facilitating, @clement.ghys for his curiosity and insightful text, and especially @lucyconticello for seeing my work and collaborating on the final edit! Merci a tous, je suis ravi! @m_magazine 🗞 Curated by Tanvi Mishra (New Delhi), the current installation of the work at #BredaPhoto comprises over 50 pieces — it is on view through October 23! Video: @elsaleydier 🙏🏽 #tanvimishra #exhibitionopening #indianmen #hommes #printpublication #queerartist #masculinities #curator #marcleclef #desidiaries #newpublication #lemonde #fineartphotography #mediumformatphotography #brooklynartist #contemporaryphotography #newphotography #desi_diaries #artcollector #lgbtqindia🌈 #lgbtq #gayartist #hommesindiens #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky

Wonderful exhibition opening of ‘Eros, Rising’ , beautifully curated by Allen Frame at Clamp! ‘Ulisse, near Stromboli’ (1992 Gelatin Silver Print, 8x10”) is held by tender works by Darrel Ellis, Charles Henri Ford and Pavel Tchelitchew. Thank you for giving ‘Ulisse’ such beautiful company, and for your care and keen eye, @allenframenyc & to Brian and Jackson @clampartnyc for hosting the exhibition! I am grateful for be in conversation with works by artists I deeply respect and admire — Adriel Visoto, Alvin Baltrop, Amina Gingold, Ann Weathersby, Boris Torres, Cansu Korkmaz, Cassandra Langer, Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, Ethan Cherry, Fernan Bilik, Frank Franca, Ian Lewandowski, Jan Rattia, Jeanette Spicer, Jihye Sage Baek, Jimmy Wright, Jo Ann Chaus, Katherine Finkelstein, Kunwar Prithvi Singh Rathore, Libuse Jarcovjakova, Lori Ordover, Marc Ohrem-Leclef, Mariette Pathy Allen, Marley Trigg Stewart, Matthew Leifheit, Michela Palermo, Miguel Ferrando, Oliver Herring, Patricia Voulgaris, Paul Burnham Schwartz, Rachel Stern, Richard Renaldi, Ryan Zogheb, Shohei Miyachi, Spencer Nichols, Stephen Barker, Sue Williams, and Vicky West Eros, Rising May 9 – July 2, 2026 at Clamp 227 West 29th Street Eros grabs me Eros tells me what to do you’re going to live . . . says Eros you’re going to live inside your flesh. —Untitled fragment from the poetry collection The Bronze Arms by Richie Hofmann (Knopf: New York, 2026)

It’s a special kind of thrill to exhibit alongside a work made by August Sander (a fellow Kölner) one hundred (!) years ago. Reiner Leist, curator of ‘Speaking in Pairs’ invited me to propose an image to dialogue with Sander’s ‘Der Gymnasiast’ (Highschool Student). Sander’s 1926 portrait of a high schooler is part of his vast undertaking in ‘People of the Twentieth Century’, that grew to include more than 600 portraits. Leist chose a portrait I made of Elton in Bombay in 2022, as part of my work ‘Zameen Aasman Ka Farq’ (As far apart as the Earth is from the Sky), to accompany ‘Der Gymnasiast’. Similarly to August Sander’s expansive approach to ‘People of the Twentieth Century’, in my work ‘Zameen Aasman Ka Farq’ I have collaborated with hundreds of individuals across India to make portraits and record their oral histories around the themes of touch, homosocial intimacy, love, sexuality and identity. Reiner Leist, exhibition curator and Hunter College Professor, writes:  “Portraits allow immortality. This exhibition asks: Who gets to be pictured and seen? Who may tell their story? Such evidence of being present, alive, can also increase visibility or hasten our demise. Speaking in Pairs seeks to offer navigational references across time and geography, between works and the practitioners making, or pondering, them.” Thank you to Reiner for inviting me to be a part of this monumental effort that brings together 80 works, and to the entire team at Hunter College! Caption: ‘Elton recounted how his penchant for dressing up and applying make-up as a boy used to entertain his family, until the moment when he eventually came out to them as queer.’ Bombay - 2022 @rleist.hunter @okaymilly @birbiebetty @louisathompson.studio @huntercollegeartgalleries #vernissage #exhibitionopening #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #marcleclef #augustsander

T*w*e*n*t*y ! ❤️ Deeply grateful for it all … and excited for our next twenty years.

I haven’t spoken much about the short film that will be part of Zameen Aasman Ka Farq. In Bombay, Anadi and I took a deep dive into footage spanning 6 years in the life of a family I’ve grown to love and respect since we met over eight years ago. They are the ones I’ve had to return to, time and again. Isolating core ideas as we listened and watched the long and intense conversations I’ve had with Sudheer and Vidya—with Anadi translating from Marathi—became an act of care and love. Often, I’d lean back in the editing room, only to catch @jumpingthepuddles ‘s face light up with curiosity and warmth as we explored these moments of lives shared with us so generously. Outside of the studio, important conversations and fun times with dear friends and fellow artists Pradeep, Suruj, Kaamna and Krish, Ayu, Nupur, Anu and Arfi reminded me why Bombay feels like home. A huge thank you to Smriti, who welcomed me to her lovely home, shifting the vibe of my stay in Bombay to a space of belonging and true emotional comfort. @smritikiran Stay tuned for the short film’s premiere and the book release next year …. 🇮🇳🎬✨🙏🏽 #documentaryfilmmaker #marathifilms #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #queerartist #curator #marcleclef #contemporaryphotography #photographybook #queerindia

My weeks in Delhi were a deep immersion into almost a decade of work on Zameen Aasman Ka Farq. Having cracked the outer walls of what is a mountain of images and texts in our last session, this time Tanvi and I were able to begin shaping phrases and moments of the book to be … it feels good and exciting. Editing is hard - for me, letting go of moments and their representations takes a trusted voice to confer with, and listen to. I am grateful to be on this journey with @tanvimishra whose care and critical mind I deeply appreciate — and let’s be honest: her pooch Mangie and kitty Jelebi sweeten the deal, even if they sometimes mess with the prints. ;-) Lots of work to be done … the nineteen languages we recorded all across India alone are a set of tasks on their own! But the network is …. activated! 🙏🏽❤️ Stay tuned for updates on progress with the book, to be published in 2026! And yes, we managed to get out and catch the Indian Premiere of the tender film #cactuspearsfilm , @alliancefrdelhi ! ✨ #imagetextworks #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #queerartist #curator #marcleclef #contemporaryphotography #photographybook #queerindia

Visiting Sudheer, Vidya, Riya and Tanubai is a bit like coming home. Since we first met in 2018, we’ve bonded through making work for Zameen: in frank conversations that reveal truly forward thinking people, who negotiate their layered identities embedded in a household filled with love and respect; through sharing their everyday lives, as Vidyal gets Riya ready for school or delivers water, and Sudheer works with his queer peers; through playfully helping with Riya’s homework and over dinner. Despite the language barriers, we feel and understand each other and have grown to love each other in ways I would have never expected. It’s a connection not just from the heart, but also from the mind: in the past eight years, these four have taught me so much about what it means to chart your own path, in quiet ways, always open to engage in complicated conversations but never pushing for it. It takes a lot to allow someone into your home as you wake up, as you go about your day and at night - someone who is almost constantly pointing a camera your way. Every time I leave Sangli with e heavy heart, it is with the same feeling: that Sudheer and Vidya’s home is filled with, and held together through sometimes difficult times, by love. With gratitude to them for balancing the layered dynamics of making work amidst our growing friendship, and for the link and good spirits my assistant and translator Ayu brought along, again. @ayu_originals @sandypatil6524 @vidya4232 #documentaryfilm #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #queerartist #curator #marcleclef #fineartphotography #brooklynartist #contemporaryphotography #newphotography #artcollector #queerindia

Friends friends friends … Bombay always makes me feel at home! Happy to be back in the tropical breeze of Bombay, to feel the ocean … to watch sunsets reflected in high rise buildings … and so blessed to reunite with friends, and to make new ones …. It has almost become a new tradition to celebrate my birthdays here, surrounded by dear ones! I cherish that you all have come out again to celebrate with me. ❤️🙏🏽🎉 Special mention to Raj who sneaks surprise gifts into my luggage before takeoff, and is always there to connect on many video calls … ❤️ … and to Anu whose home has become both home and a safe haven while I am constantly out and about … working on Zameen Aasman Ka Farq … for the past nine years! #photobook #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #queerartist #curator #marcleclef #fineartphotography #mediumformatphotography #documentaryphotography #brooklynartist #contemporaryphotography #newphotography #artcollector #queerindia

Back to familiar places, beginning new chapters … and so happy to be back in Delhi! Here, Tanvi and I took deep dive to see the photographs of my long term project Zameen Aasman Ka Farq, in preparation for its release in book form next year. In the comfort of @tanvimishra ‘s home and the company of Jelebi and @mangiethemutt , eight years of photographs were on tables and benches, and on doors and walls. In person, analog editing offers so many happy accidents that for me no screen would be to offer. Thank you, Tanvi for making your home our studio! In between our editing sessions, I was able to visit and reconnect with friends, such as Shohini and Aseem, and attend some talks at the Anant Curatorial Forum where I was also able to meet with Madeleine and Muskan of TriArt, and squeeze in a meeting with Rahaab at the Alkazi Foundation! #photobook #imagetext #AsFarApartAsTheEarthIsFromTheSky #queerartist #curator #marcleclef #fineartphotography #documentaryphotography #brooklynartist #contemporaryphotography #newphotography #artcollector #queerindia

Nineteen years. I am a very lucky man. Feeling grateful, still in love. ❤️🌈 (2x 2006, 2x2024) #anniversary #loveislove #husbands #queernewyork #gaynewyorker #

This morning our little apple tree, faithfully serving us a seemingly endless amount of fruit (certainly for its size) yet again, makes me think about the notion of home, care and perseverance. Grateful for this constant reminder of what it means to have what a place that provides safety, and inner peace. And yummy apple pie! 🍎🗽🙏🏽 #thanksgiving #madeinbrooklyn #newyorkapples