WORDS Joe Aliko
PHOTOGRAPHY Courtesy of Ezekiel
Sex has been a part of gay culture for hundreds of years. If you think cruising in a bathhouse is anything new, then tell that to the closeted gays in Florence back in the 1400s. The beautiful thing that living in the present has brought the gays is that sex, and most of its forms and kinks, are celebrated across the board. Be it in fashion, art or film, gay sexual desire has been the backbone for many queer creatives.
Enter Ezekiel, a London-based Filipino photographer, whose artistic prowess takes center stage in SMUT: Volume II. In this recently unveiled photo book, Ezekiel skillfully delves into the intersection of humour and sexual explicitness, casting a spotlight on the allure voyeurism has on modern gay culture. From playful peeping Toms to cruising in Brighton, the photo book celebrates the outlandish fantasies that have captivated the gay community for generations. Collaborating with renowned photographer and adult star Sam Morris, Volume II offers a tongue-in-cheek exploration of both modern and historical gay fantasies, all while maintaining aesthetic perfection on each and every glossy page.
“I knew I wanted to do something around gay culture. One of the main catalysts for it was when I was watching porn, and I came across Voyeur House TV. It was just porn creators live streaming themselves in their house,” the photographer explains as we prepare to unwrap the project. “Usually they’re cooking or watching TV. It’s basically just commodified and sexualised this idea of live streaming, which I think is really interesting. So that was one of the reasons why I started this.”
The photo book itself is separated into different stories that represent porn categories and a variety of types of voyeuristic activities. Hoping to engulf viewers entirely into the different gay worlds between the pages, SMUT: Volume II celebrates the ridiculousness that is our beloved porno categories.
From nearly being cruised while researching for the project, to calling on their mate’s uncle to get spanked on camera, BRICKS meets the photographer to decipher their creative process and inspiration behind these iconic portraits.
J: Why do you think that being ‘risky’ and out in the open doing something sexual is so appealing to gay people?
E: I think it comes from our long history of not being able to have sex with each other legally and socially. I feel like in gay culture now, there’s always an element of secrecy even when we don’t need to be. I think secrecy stays with us because it’s so ingrained within our history and our trauma that we still take it with us, which I think is fun and interesting. I mean it’s not necessary, and the secrecy has got worse.
Touching on the history of the gays, do you think it’s important to remember how significant concealment play is and was for gay culture, especially in creative projects?
Yeah, it’s so important. With my work I’m always referencing the past and how that’s affecting us now. But with this book, I definitely wanted it to be a celebration. It’s weird, I want to celebrate secrecy but when you’re celebrating it, it doesn’t remain a secret anymore. So with this, I’m openly making a spectacle out of these things that we used to hide in some ways, and in turn sort of turning it into a beautiful thing. This is basically the premise of the book: turning things that are unspoken and transgressive and making them into something beautiful and chic.
It seems we’ve gone from shagging in a toilet with people watching to streaming online, was digital voyeurism important for you to include?
What really got me was how often online streaming voyeurism was being done by creators. It’s amazing how much stuff is out there because I never looked into it that deeply until now. I mean you never do a deep dive when you watch porn, but I had to whilst researching for this project and it was very surprising. I found Voyeur House TV and went into researching adult filmmakers recording themselves for hours in their house. Sometimes they would finish themselves off at the end, but a lot of people would literally just sit and watch for hours to get a flash of skin or an attempt. It was just so funny to me. People will spend hours watching someone in bed to try and get a peek at a tip.
Now this project is so interesting, was there any process you nailed down to get this broad topic into one book?
I definitely had to think about which parts of voyeurism I wanted to include, especially gay porn, and the different categories of gay porn I looked into and wanted to shoot. I think what made it easy was that I wanted to choose and shoot themes that would be interesting to me. For ‘ The Spanking’ I wanted to get someone spanked on camera. With things like spanking, it’s usually the older man spanking the young twink. To make it even more fun, we switched this and had this young twink spank an older silver fox who’s actually my friend’s uncle, which was insane.
With the doctor’s office one, ‘The Checkup’, I knew I wanted to do something with this medical scene and I found an amazing location in Canary Wharf. I had to be quite picky with what I wanted to shoot. Casting-wise, I was shooting a lot of my friends who are sex workers, and I think a lot of the whole premise of SMUT is to work with people from the adult film industries and put them into this fashion context. Putting them into this context allows them to garner a different perspective and light while also celebrating what they do. 80% of the people in Volume II work in the adult entertainment industry.
With things like spanking, it’s usually the older man spanking the young twink. To make it even more fun, we switched this and had this young twink spank an older silver fox who’s actually my friend’s uncle, which was insane.
You’ve shot Sam Morris in the book, how was it collaborating with him on this project?
I had wanted to work with him for a while and I’ve been familiar with his work for a long time. Sam is really interesting because he was one of the first pioneers of making your own website and then making your own content and selling it to pre-only fans. I think he kind of transcends the porn space as well, you know, he’s known in the fashion world and in the nightlife world. He knows all these people within all these industries and I thought he would be the perfect person to cast for his shoot. He has an amazing body, an amazing willy, and has this perfect 80s-yet-modern look to him. My aesthetic is quite 70s and 80s, but also quite modern. I look at the digitalization of pornography and kind of mixed that. So to get him on board I just emailed him and he was so lovely. He’s also moved to Brighton where I grew up so we had that connection. So yeah, we shot his photo in September last year and went to cruising spots around London and Brighton which was fun.
Now shooting in cruising spots sounds tricky to say the least, how did you ensure people were not trying to cruise you whilst on the job?
So we went to places like Liverpool Station Toilets. Now these are infamous, it can get rabid in there sometimes. There are loads of videos online as well if you want to look. I did, and I’ve seen some weird shit go down. But with that actually, we shot in the day on a Sunday so there wasn’t much happening, and after we went to Hampstead Heath. It’s funny though, that I went on a recce to the Hampstead Heath men’s pond just on my own on this random Tuesday. I was watching and someone was trying to cruise me while I was doing the recce. I didn’t realise he was until he stood super close to me. And I had to explain, ‘I’m just here doing some field research’.” I needed to do some work, so I walked away.
Coming from Brighton yourself, was it nice to research into your home town’s notorious cruising spot?
There is this spot called Duke’s Mound that was my first-ever insight into gay culture. It’s actually this gorgeous path down a hill leading to the beach, but it’s just like four tall bushes. It’s the perfect place to cruise in the day and night. When we were younger, our parents would be like don’t walk through Duke’s Mound on your own or you’ll see men doing weird shit, but it was fun actually going back to that hill and shooting in there because it felt like we were being quite naughty. It was a nice wink back to our younger selves. When we were shooting there, other men were cruising. It was cute to see.
And finally, is there any hot pic that stands out as your favourite? We know this might be a hard one to answer!
Oh my God, they’re so fun. I’m not going to lie – I love all my children! It’s probably the cover story because of the context and I shot with a team that I was close to and people who I’ve known for years. Shooting with Sam was so lovely so it had to be the cover shoot. I think the ‘The Spanking’ shoot was nice as well, the casting call was perfect for that. The fact that we got our friend’s uncle to do this shoot was amazing. It was so fun and so nice. Another favourite is the keyhole one which was shot in New York. It’s [based] on the Peeping Tom and you’re looking through the keyhole watching this hot sexy boy get changed and work out. I cast this the day before we flew out. This was special as I love New York, and we’ve just done a SMUT: Volume II exhibition in March. London, Paris and New York influenced this book – these places are very special to me.
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