Bathroom Misgendering

Excuse Me, Sir, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

You Know This Is The Ladies Room, Right? (series), Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

You Know This Is The Ladies Room, Right? (series), Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

A photographic series exploring the experience of being misgendered in a gendered space - public bathrooms.

Leg Hair photo series

Define Your Own Femininity,  Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Femininity is Subjective, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

I waxed one strip of my leg hair so I could write messages in the patch of bare skin surrounded by hair - however I think my leg hair is too light for this effect to be noticeable, so this photo shoot was not as successful as I'd hoped.

Queer Art(ists) Now exhibition

Queer Art(ists) Now was an opportunity for LGBTQ+ artists to showcase their work as a part of And What? Queer Arts Festival, an annual London based arts festival.

Gendered Space photography series

Gendered Space, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Gendered Space #2, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Gendered Space #3, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Gendered Space #4, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Gendered Space #5 (Self), Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

Gendered spaces such as bathrooms are a place of anxiety for androgynous presenting people as we are often subjected to interrogation or harassment.  I posed an androgynous model in this unsafe space with the words ‘are you a boy or a girl’ written on their face to replicate this common experience.

Gendered Space photography series

Colin On The Toilet, Chaz Howkins, 2017, photograph

One of the less successful shots from the Gendered Space series featuring more of the subject's body than just head and shoulders.  I decided to focus more on portraiture for the rest of the series so that the writing on the subject's face was more easily readable.

Long Distance Relationship Problems

Sleeping Together, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph 

Sleeping Together #2, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

This series visually communicates one of the issues of a long distance relationship - the time difference and attempting to communicate at awkward times of day.

Expectations vs Reality

Study Abroad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

This image comes from a series in which I explored the contrast of what I expected studying abroad would be like with what it is actually like.

Sense Of Place within photography

Out Of Place, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

A visual exploration of feeling out of place within a new environment (during my year spent studying in Australia).

Unexpected uses for a cardboard box

Imaginary Window 1, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation

Imaginary Window 2, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photo manipulation

As a response to the brief, I wanted to respond to the cardboard box how a child might, as children can take mundane objects and use their imagination to see potential in them.  This led me to imagining the cardboard box as a window into another world, which I visually communicated by creating these photo manipulations which transport the viewer from the run-down interior into a brighter, natural exterior.

Unexpected uses for a cardboard box

Cardboard Obstruction 1, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Cardboard Obstruction 2, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Cardboard Obstruction 3, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

As a response to a brief requiring unexpected uses for a cardboard box, I created a series of photographs in which the cardboard was used as a means of obstructing the landscape.  As I obstructed more and more of the landscape with the cardboard, I found the photos more humorous as it becomes less obvious what the photograph is attempting to capture.

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.

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.

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.

Woven Portraits

Woven Portraits, Chaz Howkins, 2016, woven photographs

Long Exposures from Loughborough Fair

Spinner, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Carousel, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Trails, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Spin, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Chad Photo Shoot

Dramatic Chad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Filtered Chad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

I used a honeycomb flash filter to create these dramatic self portraits.  Though these are successful images and a useful tool in exploring my own gender fluidity, they lack a sense of purpose as the subject appears too authentically male for their gender to be questioned by the viewer.

Chad Photo Shoot

Open Chad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Undressing Chad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

The aim of these images was to create a sense of ambiguity by exposing the centre of the subject's torso to further the viewer's questioning of the subject's gender.

Chad Photo Shoot

Chad On Chair, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

I felt that using a chair as a prop would enable me to create some more masculine poses to add to the effect of gender as performance, which I think worked successfully.

Chad Photo Shoot

Sideboob Chad, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Chest Tape, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

Chad Frontal, Chaz Howkins, 2016, photograph

I used the continuous lighting studio to create some dramatic self portraits as Chad.  For these images I wanted to masculinise my body my taping down my breasts and covering the nipples.  I think the headless image is particularly interesting due to the sense of ambiguity created by the masculine pose and covered nipples.
I plan to expand on these images in a future shoot in which I will bind my chest or pose fully topless to create a greater sense of ambiguity and gender fluidity.