Sunday 15 May 2016

Collaborative Photography

The Taboos of Intimacy, Chaz Howkins and Katya Veleva, 2016, photograph
In a society in which lesbian relationships are sexualised, gay relationships are judged and gender ambiguity is unsettling, what might a conservative viewer think of this image?  Would they attempt to heteronormatise it and attempt to read one subject as male and one as female, accept that it is two male characters embracing or try to believe it's two women?

Collaborative Photography

Duality, Chaz Howkins and Katya Veleva, 2016, photograph
Most of my recent photography has been self portraiture due to the self explorative nature of my work, however I felt it was time to broaden my practice by beginning to use other models in my photography.

Tuesday 10 May 2016

Collaborative Photography - An Exploration Of Androgyny

Androgyny 1, Chaz Howkins and Katya Veleva, 2016, photography
Androgyny 2, Chaz Howkins and Katya Veleva, 2016, photography
Androgyny 3,  Chaz Howkins and Katya Veleva, 2016, photography
My girlfriend and I collaborated to create this portrait series which explores androgyny.  I put the images in black and white so that the viewer wasn't distracted by hair colour or skin tone while attempting to identify the subject.

Photo collages

Ambiguity Collage, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo collage

I created a series of physically manipulated photo collages to represent a conflict of identities and to present the viewer with an ambiguous image in an attempt to frustrate the viewer as they try to identify the gender of the subject.

Double Exposures

Chadlotte 1, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation
Chadlotte 2, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation

Chadlotte 3, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation

Chadlotte 4, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation















































I wanted to revisit creating double exposures, this time using darker backgrounds so the skin tones stand out more rather than fading into their surroundings.  I used more recent imagery so that Chad's shorter hair could juxtapose Charlotte's long hair.

Monday 9 May 2016

Does It Matter? A Conversation

Image by Kate Self
As well as the exhibition, which ran for two weeks, an event was put on called ‘Does it Matter? A Conversation’ which consisted of talks given by myself and artist Elly Clarke, followed by a discussion about gender identity and themes we’d spoken about.  During my talk, I spoke about my experience preparing for the exhibition, the concept of gender as performance and a social construct and how feminism comes into my work.  Clarke joined us via Google Hangout from her home in Berlin to talk about digital technology and the role of gender as performance within her work.  During the discussion we went into more depth about our experiences with drag and how it is perceived within our society and the influence that society has on impressionable children in relation to their understanding of their gender.

Does It Matter? Exhibition Space



Series of double exposures