Me and Mommy Drinking II

This self-portrait of the artist on his mother’s lap confronts norms of aesthetic taste and social respectability. Melee’s mother features in many of his deliberately campy photographs. She appears in provocative clothing, heavy make-up, and various states of intoxication. Here, the pair riff on traditional depictions of Christ and the Virgin Mary. This work combines a host of taboos, from incest and nudity to the mockery of religious iconography. The plastic slipcover and gilt frame flirt with kitsch, class, and taste—topics often avoided in art historical studies.