Inspired by the work of Gillian Wearing, and now with a few interested parties thanks to the questionnaire, I decided to move forward with my research and conduct some interviews on video about darkrooms. One of the points of this project is to start expanding the discourse surrounding the subject of darkrooms. I feel that hearing people talk candidly about their experiences, and perhaps why they use them and how they feel about them will be an important exercise in expanding on the work I am doing in 3D imaging, and will then form a second facet to the exhibition and website. These interviews will be used to create a short film, or a series of short films that will sit alongside my images to form the overall project.
Taking my cue from the work of Luvera, I want these talks to be as open and honest as possible, with that in mind, I feel they should be quite informal. Less and interview and more a casual chat. This means that I will need to take an active part in these talks, and even speak openly and truthfully about my own experiences of Darkrooms. Like Luvera when he was documenting LGBT culture in Brighton, I am apart of this community. So rather than planning out set questions, I will instead have a few point in mind to cover instead of straight questions. These will revolve around the same point of the questionnaire, and hopefully allow people to expand on there answers. I want to know how they feel about the darkrooms, about there first time. Did they experience the call of the void? how do they feel about the safety? are they worried about them going away? do they worry about how other people feel about this kind of sexual activity?
The response to the questionnaire was very positive, and I was surprised by not only how openly everyone talked about there darkrooms experiences, but also by the amount of people who seemed interested in being involved with the project further. So my next step was to send around an email to all those who replied, explaining that I wanted to talk to them via skype. In an effort to allow people to have control over their own representation within my work, I wrote in the email that they could appear however they wanted on video, wearing what ever they wanted. Weather that would be in normal clothes, smart clothes, no clothes, or even fetish gear. They would have control over how they were represented visually. A copy of this initial email is here:
Hi There
Thank you for taking the time to fill out my questionnaire, life is very strange at the moment and it is affecting us all in different ways, so I really appreciate that you took the time. As you will know from the questionnaire this is all in aid of my MA Degree Final Major Project, which is the photography version of a dissertation. Due to the pandemic my plans for this project have had to change drastically but the core concept will remain the same. The aim of the project is to add to the discourse surrounding Dark Rooms, Saunas, Sex clubs and Dungeons as we see ever more changes to the LGBT scene and its communal spaces, and your responses have been so helpful as a part of that. Originally the project was intended to take on a purely photographic form, resulting in a physical exhibition, which with any luck will still come to fruition at some point in the future. For now however, in order to submit on time, I am now looking at creating a short film that would feature interviews with people discussing this topic, alongside my imagery. So I am emailing now to ask if anyone would be interested in being a part of this film. The intention is to hold a number of web meetings, both one-on-one and perhaps a group meeting talking about our experiences and views in a very candid fashion. I will record these meetings both video and audio to use in the film. If you want to be a part of this you can choose whether to show your camera or just send audio, and if you choose to share your webcam I encourage you to dress as you see fit, whether that be masked, in any kind of gear you wish, even naked. Whatever speaks to you as a person, and you feel is most relevant to this topic. I want you to be represented for you. Once the film is finished we will have an online private screening and this will be a point where you can tell me if you are happy that you have been represented correctly. So with all that in mind, if you are happy to be a part of this project please simply reply back to this email, and then we can start organising times for meetings. I am really excited to hear what you all have to say on the topic, and on my project as well. Perhaps there is even a possibility to open this up into a group project! This is the website for the project, it is in a very early development stage but please feel free to take a look https://dale27.wixsite.com/locususpectus . This is my Critical Research Journal (Blog) for my MA, feel free to take a look through at my previous work, this will also be updated with progress and research on the current project under the category "FMP" https://dale27.wixsite.com/locususpectus Thanks again everyone, keep well and keep safe! Dale Evans Ba(Hons) ARPS
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