#queerskinhead

This was a final result from the skinhead shoot that ended up being my promo postcard and entry into the degree catalogue a year later. It was more noir than most of them and referenced crucifixion as a symbol for violence. Looking through old Bible texts,(as one does…) I had seen the crucifixion of Jesus between two thieves translated differently as “there between two malefactors” which I had misread as “male factors”. (I think the modern translation of thief itself is probably less accurate (as crucifixion was the most extreme penalty and although Rome was very harsh it was unlikely to be applied just for stealing a loaf of bread). I suspect the word may have been closer in implication to bandit, outlaw or zealot (or it’s modern equivalent catch-all term to describe seditious rebels, “terrorist.”) I was thinking about physical violence, emotional violence- being torn by attachment (as in being in love), the martyrdom and spiritual violence that the church routinely subjects queer people to, sacrifice and various other dark implications. The idea of being caught between two hostile forces pining one into position (while literally biting the wrists to eat the flesh and drink the blood) was a brutal image. It was before photoshop so done with real negatives from the shoot and I was less happy with the figure on one side so I flipped the negative to have the same figure on both sides (as you can tell from the reversed text on the T-shirt). @extremenoisejasper was, as ever, perfectly patient at being cannibalised like this. When mum came up to Stoke (where I had seen plenty of BNP skinheads prowling around for years) to see the final show I spotted a big guy dressed very skinhead with steel toe 14 hole, braces etc see me and come belting across a busy road with a copy of my postcard in his hand. I suspected he was furious at my subverting his image and was going to punch me, so I stood instinctively in front of mum to protect her but he actually just said, “is this piece for sale?” It was- mum asked, “do people always come running up to buy your work? #queerskinhead #queerart #finishedwork #crucifixion #identity #violence #degreework #artdegree #luckyescape (at Toxteth, L8) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWY6owIsPkn/?utm_medium=tumblr

The photoshoot for the drawings I showed yesterday happened (I think over the Christmas or Easter break that year as it was) back in Liverpool with my friends in their cellar on Percy Street. I was about 22 so look like a tiny slip of a thing. I remember @owens449 and @elshaaaaa took the photos for me and I know @extremenoisejasper and @steve73uk modelled with me to get a set of shots (only partially resultant from the drawings). The reality of a photoshoot is that one responds instinctively to the elements of the space that actually exists rather than any previous ideas about it. Certain things were important like that the shots would be black and white (to suggest two tone but also to suggest the rigidity of right wing radicalisation where views are simplified down to “us and them”, “right or wrong” etc). They had to be spot-lit in darkness to because I loved Caravaggio and chiaroscuro. The details of the space itself should be used - here a missing brick to the next room provided a chance for disembodied hands to silence me or blind me like a see no evil type idea. Disembodied hands continued on the 3rd one like cherub wings but with an element of threat and control making the figure like a hostage. The last shot, of my backside, when hung in a bar in Stoke led to the comment “he’s got a neat little arse” from the bar man, who didn’t realise I was hanging the work but also the model. He cringed when realised it was me. On a separate note, within a month of that I had been walking along the canal in Stoke with mates and overheard a Welsh girl walking behind me describe me in a beautiful accent as, “ooh he got a disastrous ass..” (these conflicts of description led me to some ambivalence about my appearance in my later years…) these self portraits are the first four. There are more to come #artdegree #photoshoot #queerartist #queerartistsofinstagram #queerskinhead #selfportrait #blackandwhite (at Toxteth, L8) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWLcpMcMH88/?utm_medium=tumblr