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INTERVIEW WITH PHOTOGRAPHER JJ LEVINE 

What are some of the reasons you chose photography as your main artistic expression?  

I use photography as my preferred medium because it feels intuitive.  I’m not sure how else to describe it.  I am interested in video work as well, but the still image feels much more grounded to me.  I find the analog photography process really magical.  Each portrait I make is given great care and consideration: from the lighting, to the camera, to the type of film, to the furniture, clothing, backdrop, facial expression, body position, gaze etc.  Every detail holds weight and importance. I work with film and I really appreciate having to wait a few days to pick my negatives up from the lab and find out if anything from my shoot turned out.  I can be a pretty impatient person, so this really forces me to take a second.  I print my work in a colour darkroom, which is also a pretty time-consuming and tricky process, involving countless test strips and subtle enlarger adjustments.  I feel more aware when I’m in the darkroom than I do almost anywhere else in my life.  Even if it can sometimes be tedious and frustrating, the end result is so incredibly worth it for me.  My work would be completely aesthetically different if it was shot and printed at the same large-scale but digitally.  I don’t think it would compare.   

 Do you identify as a trans or genderqueer/gender-variant artist? If so, do you see it as limiting? 

Yes, I identify as a trans artist. However, more than trans I strongly identify as genderqueer and my artistic practice speaks to both of those identities.  I am interested in a duality, or multitude of genders within myself, and my work reflects that.  I was assigned female, and am read as such a lot of the time.  I am on a low dose of T and intend to go off of it once my voice drops a bit more, but before I pass full-time as a man.  Perhaps if my photo practice wasn’t so closely linked to my sexuality and gender identity I would feel pigeonholed by the label “trans artist,” but I believe that positioning myself with the context that I am working, is essential in exposing the power dynamic that exists between artist and subject in portraiture.  I am not a voyeur but rather a participant in my queer community in Montreal and in these images.    

What informs your decision to shoot in certain settings, with certain people? 

In terms of setting, I am inspired by my environment.  I’ll be hanging out at a friend’s house and make little mental notes about my surroundings and call upon them later when planning a shoot with that person.  And for my subjects, I pretty much exclusively photograph the people I intimately interact with in my everyday gay life.  I take pictures of my roommates, dates, lovers, siblings and friends.  I am so lucky to be surrounded by incredible people who are willing to sit for me and be so vulnerable in that way.

Can you give aspiring photographers some pointers on getting to where you are now? 

Hmm, tips?  Well, I went to art school, and I actually got a lot out of it.  I think that was mostly luck though, because I had a few amazing professors who really pushed me.  It wasn’t an entirely positive experience though, I came across a lot of criticism from narrow minded people who were more interested in arguing about world views that actually engaging with my work.  I definitely don’t think school is for everyone, but it’s where I learned technique and discipline.  I think having the opportunity to go to University is a really privileged position to be in, and I don’t take that lightly.  I was extremely lucky to not have tuition at the institution that I studied at, and therefore was able to fuck around until I figured out what I really wanted to be learning, which was photography and queer studies in the end.  Many incredible artists, however, never went to school and have had really prosperous art careers.  I’ve been out of school for several years now, and working as an artist.  Sometimes it feels like it’s all about finding a balance between creating new work and pushing it.  I find that part really challenging.  I don’t feel like I’m super connected in any art scene, so finding out about opportunities to show that I should be applying for can be pretty hard. I also don’t spend enough time on the internet to always be aware of what’s going on in other queer art communities.   It’s all a learning process though, and I’m getting better at putting my work out there.  I think I’m afraid of being obnoxiously self-promoting, but if you want people to pay attention to your work, that’s kind of necessary at a certain point.     

Artist Statement

Queer Portraits is an ongoing series of large-scale colour photographs of my community in Montreal.  This project captures the complex, emotional relationships that I have with my friends, lovers, and siblings.   My work explores issues surrounding gender, sexuality, and queer space.  Each studio-lit portrait is shot on medium format film, and taken in a different domestic setting, characterized by saturated colours, and often discursive backgrounds.  Through these portraits of queer and trans people in my life, I explore my own identity as a genderqueer artist.  I am interested in expressing fierceness, beauty, and resistance through the aesthetic of my queer culture.

Please check out more of JJ Levine’s work HERE. 

INTERVIEW WITH PHOTOGRAPHER JESS DUGAN 

What are some of the reasons you chose photography as your main artistic expression? 

I make photographs because I have to. It is the way in which I relate to the world around me, and the way in which I am able to know and understand myself. I primarily photograph people, and my camera functions as a way to get to know a wide and diverse group of people very intimately. One of the things I love about photography is that is gives me a reason and medium to explore absolutely anything I am interested in. My camera functions as an access card in many ways, giving me a reason and opportunity to know someone or something in a very personal way.

My first real photographs, taken at age 16, were of my fellow queer and gender variant friends and peers. I was just learning how to use my camera and technically, the images were not very good, but the process of making this work was my first experience with the power of exploring identity through photography.

Do you identify as a “trans artist” and, if so, do you see it as limiting? Why or why not? 

This is something I grapple with a lot.  I actually don’t really solidly identify as a “trans” person.   I consider myself to be gender variant, and I am a part of the trans community, but all of the labels feel limiting to me.  I am not transitioning from one thing to another, but rather on a more fluid path of shifting gender expressions that feel closer and closer to who I am.  So maybe I’m F-to-me. 

A lot of my work is made within the transgender community, and I very strongly feel that I am a part of this community and as such, approach photographing trans and gender variant folks differently than someone outside of the community might.  Ultimately, though, my photographs have to be about much more than someone’s identity to be successful.  I want the viewer to first relate to my subjects as fellow people- to have a connection with them on a purely human level, whether or not they recognize that they are looking at a trans person.  I want my images to portray the complicated and universal experience of being human. 

In terms of the art world, I do think it can be limiting to be labeled as a “trans artist,” or to be perceived as such.  Though a lot of my work deals with gender and identity, many of my projects are not specifically trans related.  Again, if I feel that my work is successful, it will operate on many levels, perhaps appealing to the specific community in which it is made but also appealing to a much broader audience on a more universal level.

What informs your decision to shoot in certain settings, with certain people? 

Choosing who and where to photograph tends to be a fairly instinctual decision.  I often work within certain parameters, such as a location or subject matter, but ultimately it is all about making compelling portraits.  I try to find settings that increase the intimacy of the connection between me and my subject and also make a visually compelling picture.  I told someone recently that finding subjects is just like attraction in terms of dating, etc.  I was asked why I’m drawn to certain people, and I said, “I don’t know, I’m just photo-attracted to them.”  There is something about them that I find interesting or compelling, something about them that makes me want to spend time with them, and ultimately, to spend time looking at them. 

You have shown your work in galleries and museums, can you give aspiring photographers some pointers on getting to where you are now? 

First, I’d say make work that you’re passionate about.  The passion has to start with you.  It is difficult to make work and to pursue a life as an artist, so it has to be something that completely inspires and compels you.  My gallery director always tells me that she wants to work with people for whom making photographs is something they simply have to do- a compulsion, if you will, to create and to make meaning out of their world through photography. 

Second, participate in the world around you.  Go to openings.  Meet people.  Look at the work of other photographers you admire.  Identify people who are successful in the ways you want to be successful and figure out how they got there.

Once you’ve got work that you’re ready to share, apply for group shows, attend portfolio reviews, submit to online photography blogs, etc.  Do whatever you can to get your work out there into venues that feel appropriate for you.  And above it all, keep making work that you’re excited about.   

Bio: Jess T. Dugan is a large-format portrait photographer whose work explores issues of gender, identity, and shared humanity. Born in Mississippi and raised in Arkansas, Jess then spent twelve years in Boston, Massachusetts, where studied photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Museum Studies at Harvard University.  She currently lives in Chicago, IL and is pursuing her MFA in photography at Columbia College Chicago. Jess’s photographs are regularly exhibited nationwide and are in the permanent collection of the Harvard Art Museums and the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. Jess is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston, MA and the Schneider Gallery in Chicago,  IL. 

 For more info please visit the website: http://www.jessdugan.com/