“Turn On the Light” a Review of James Miille’s Latest Exhibition, by Jona Montoya

“Turn On the Light” by James Miille

ALMANAQUE-fotográfica, Mexico City — June 2025

Review by Jona Montoya


Let’s get one thing straight: not everything that gets lit deserves to be seen. But James Miille’s “Turn On the Light”, now on show at ALMANAQUE-fotográfica in Mexico City, grabs you by the retinas and refuses to let go.

At first glance, his photography is seductive. At second glance, it’s intellectual. At third glance, it bites, breathes on your neck, and says, “Look again.”

And that’s the point.

The gallery space, refreshingly, doesn’t try to out-art the art. ALMANAQUE-fotográfica offers breathing room. And that, in the art world, is rarer than honesty.

Miille’s show is subtle, sensual, and unexpectedly sane. It refuses the usual queer tropes: no oiled-up locker-room lads, no wink-wink for the straight crowd. Instead, what you get is a kind of reverent eroticism. The male form here isn’t flexing for approval. It’s soft. Startled. Vulnerable.

There’s something deliciously subversive about that.

The gaze here is not hungry; it’s reverent, even startled by its own desire.

And here’s the kicker: with queer erotica now trading at serious prices, this isn’t niche anymore. The market has caught up, whether it meant to or not.

In short: Buy it because it’s beautiful. Keep it because it’s unafraid. Hang it because the work makes you painfully aware of the blank walls at home. The spaces you’ve ignored. The corners where feeling should live but doesn’t. After all, curation is a kind of self-respect: for your space, for your gaze, for the parts of you still waiting to be seen.

And ask yourself: what part of me deserves to be framed?

Touch it with your eyes, or don’t. But if you leave the show unmoved, check if your soul’s still switched on. Or just admit you’ve gone dim.


Learn more about the artist: www.jamesmiille.com