ARTIST SERIES

Artist Jen Davis writes:

“Photography is the medium that allows me to escape and gain access into a world that only exists in the realm of fantasy for me. I am interested in photographing men for the purpose of placing expectations of both physical and emotional attraction onto them during the act of photographing. I felt that I needed to look at men to fill the void that existed in my life. I needed to be desired and looked at. Through my camera I could experience an intimacy that I yearned for and did not have. I created a relationship of sorts, which I wanted to understand even if I couldn’t physically experience the touch of what I am describing through the lens of my camera.

“The camera transforms and empowers me to approach whomever I want, and for the duration of the shoot I become a flirtatious voyeur in close proximity to my subject. I use the license that this machine gives me to solicit an intimate interaction, to ask for a return of my desire for the time I am taking the pictures. I am interested in investigating the male gaze not as a theoretical abstraction, but as a personal and sexual exchange. Every frame is a record of a hypothetical and fictional relationship that formed between us. It is proof that we existed together, interacted together, and were involved together as a couple in the fleeting moment of the fantasy. The result is a visual record of not what actually took place, but what I imagined it to be.”

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