Voyeurism is a tale as old as time. In the 13th century, Lady Godiva was said to have ridden naked on a horse through the streets of Coventry. She proclaimed that everyone should stay indoors and shut their windows, but there was one man who disobeyed. The name he came to be known by? Peeping Tom.
Today, with the widespread digitalization of pornography, Filipino-born, London-based photographer Ezekiel asks if we’ve all become Peeping Toms. In their new erotic photo book SMUT Volume II: Voyeurism, they tap into various gay voyeuristic fantasies, exposing the inherent comedy in and sheer campiness of it all.
Divided into archetypal sexual categories, the photo book reappropriates the depiction of voyeurism in the gay adult digital landscape, from the neighbor who lusts over the hunky hetero across the road to the sexy silver fox sore from a spanking to the tried-and-true doctor/patient setup. In the 27-year-old photographer’s words: “The premise is a 'wink wink, nudge nudge' at the norm. It’s to take the piss and say, 'None of this is real.' Everyone should just laugh because it’s not that serious.”
Ahead of their upcoming book launch and exhibition in New York, PAPER spoke to Ezekiel about the making of SMUT Volume II: Voyeurism.
How did you land on voyeurism as a concept?
For SMUTII, I knew I wanted to do something about gay culture. I just didn’t know what it was yet, and then about two summers ago, I really sat down and had a think. I went to the Bishopsgate Institute in Liverpool Street [in London]. They have an amazing LGBT archive, and I was looking at a lot of things from the '80s and '90s gay magazines and vintage posters. At the same time, I was on a shoot at a lake just outside of London, and at the station, there was a sign on the men’s toilet door saying, "Closed due to inappropriate use of facilities." I was like, Hold on, the universe is telling me something right now. I need to hone in on what’s happening. And then later I was scrolling on TikTok and came across a "sleep stream," which is where someone sleeps on a livestream while viewers tip to try to get them to show more skin or to wake them up. It was a real mix of research and weird coincidences in my life.
Voyeurism seems to be all around and within us. Why?
I think human beings are curious, inquisitive creatures. We’re very nosy. We want to see and know everything. I guess it’s like when we used to hunt — we’d have to wait and watch for ages to get what we wanted. It’s just human nature.
Does queerness inform voyeurism differently?
I think voyeurism is really ingrained in gay culture, because back in the day, it wasn’t so obvious in public who was gay and who wasn’t, so you had to go to certain spaces to find them. It’s quite inherent in the culture to be secretive. You’re always looking for someone like you. My work is about, how can I subvert or undermine straight culture. I’m trying to be non-conformist, which is the whole point of queer culture- to make work that’s from a new point of view. SMUT is very anti-straight.
The book straddles both physical and digital sites of voyeurism. What was the significance of your shooting locations, and how did you choose them?
I knew I wanted to do about six to eight shoots, so each shoot would have to be a different setting. The main references were digital forms of voyeurism in pornography, so I was going off categories in gay porn and reimagining them in this SMUT world. With “The Cruiser” story, I knew of a really famous spot called Duke’s Mound in Brighton [in southern England] where I grew up, and I always wanted to shoot there. That was my first insight into gay culture when I was a child. Our parents would tell us not to walk around there at night because people still cruise there. It’s a stunning hill by the sea. We shot during sunset, and it gets the most gorgeous light.
The other cruising spots in London were by word of mouth, so Hampstead Heath, which is infamous. George Michael used to go there. Then Liverpool Street Station — the men’s toilets are a free-for-all. The businessmen go crazy in there after work. I actually did a recce at Hampstead Heath. I was just watching the men swim in the men’s pond, and this guy stood next to me and kept looking at me. I thought, Why’s this guy looking at me so weirdly? And then I realized he was trying to get me into the bush with him!
I also thought it just made sense to do a Peeping Tom story in New York, because the idea of it is very American, and there are a lot of old movies about it. This guy, I knew him through Twitter, and I’d been a big fan of his for years now. His name is Zuni Castillo, and he became really big for taking provocative Photobooth selfies in workout gear or skimpy clothes looking stunning. So I wanted to incorporate his practice into this and have him be like a college roommate who’s a bit self-obsessed.
You brought together such an eclectic cast. What was your casting process like?
I did all the casting myself, which was long. I wanted people who worked within the world of adult entertainment or adjacent to it, so even though Zuni isn’t a sex worker, he has so many friends in that world, and he’s part of that scene in New York. Sam Morris is an alternative pornstar who I knew of, and then some of the other people I found off an escorting website. I just wanted people who looked like they could be in porn, as well as fashion — someone who could transcend platforms.
You previously studied fashion photography at London College of Fashion. How does fashion influence SMUT?
Throughout the SMUT world, there’s always an element of fashion because that’s my background, and that’s what I love. SMUT I was definitely more of a documentary lens, whereas this one is very fashion-heavy because I’m working with stylists, set designers, hair and make-up. It’s similar to a fashion shoot because we’re creating a fantasy to sell a product; the fantasy of this is sex whereas in fashion it’s perfume or a piece of clothing. This volume’s really camp so I wanted to amp that up by bringing in the fashion and honing in on this idea of it being so stupid. A big part of SMUTII is poking fun at fashion and making fun of gay porn because it just doesn’t make sense.
So is fashion your starting point for inspiration?
I try to get inspiration from everywhere. One thing I was taught at university is to not reference the world that your work is in. I don’t look at fashion when thinking about new project ideas, because otherwise, I’ll just regurgitate what someone’s already done. A lot of my references come from pornography and movies that aren’t fashion-related at all. Also, there’s a lot to take from my own experiences within this world.
Have you learned anything about yourself while making this book?
It made me realize how voyeuristic I am. In this digital age, we’re always watching other people do things, but that’s such a new concept, isn’t it? Probably before the past decade, the internet wasn’t as accessible. You’d have a computer room where you would watch other people, but then you’d leave that space and that was it. Now, digital voyeurism is just the norm.
If everyone is a voyeur now, does it lose its meaning?
That’s actually something the book touches on: the fact that no one’s really a voyeur anymore because everyone knows they’re being watched. The point of being a voyeur is that someone needs to not know they’re being watched in a sexual manner. Voyeurism loses all its credibility if everyone is in on the joke. It’s all quite meta.
New York marks the final stop of your press tour for SMUTVolume II: Voyeurism. How do you see the series evolving from here?
My goal is to bring out a volume every two years. I know what SMUTIII and IV are, but I won’t give too much away. Every volume has upped itself in terms of campiness and theatricality, I don’t know whether to go even higher or really bring it down and have a breather. I’ve been writing down themes and keywords within sex and sexuality that I want to explore, so I have a big archive to pick from now. It’s just about the execution.
SMUT Volume II: Voyeurism book signing and talk hosted by Georgia Moot will be held at Printed Matter (231 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001) on March 14, 2024, from 6 PM to 8 PM.
SMUT Volume II: Voyeurism book launch and exhibition will be held at Friend Editions (129 Eldridge Street, New York, NY 10002) from March 15 until March 29, 2024. The opening night is on Friday Mar 15, 2024 from 6 PM to 9 PM.
With the support of Satellite Gallery.
Photos courtesy of Ezekiel
