From peeping Toms, to randy doctors and boys-next-door, SMUT, Volume II dares to summon the voyeur inside us all
If you’ve ever browsed the categories on any mainstream gay porn site, some familiar groupings pop up time and time again. Whether you like ‘outdoor’, ‘solo’, or ‘age gap’ videos, we don’t often give these categories much thought – they’re just part and parcel of the digital experience. In their new photo book, SMUT, Volume II: Voyeurism, the London-based photographer Ezekiel exposes the inherent comedy of these categorisations, presenting a body of work that pokes fun at how people enjoy their time on gay porn sites.
Ezekiel’s photography is aware that, in real life, we don’t experience sexual desire with such strict boundaries. “I wanted to emphasise the ludicrousness of these mainstream categories and how they’ve essentially stripped voyeuristic behaviours of their true essence,” they explain in a conversation over email. “Authentic voyeurism hinges on the subject being unaware of being observed or recorded, but in the gay pornography that attempts to depict this, everyone is an actor and complicit in the scenario.”
The book is split into a number of different photo stories, each with their own distinct psychosexual subdivision. There’s ‘The Cruiser’, who spends his time skulking around London’s cottaging spots in various states of undress; there’s ‘The Checkup’, where a routine doctor’s appointment sees the patient get a lot more than he bargained for; there’s even ‘The Spanking’, which is exactly what the name suggests. “Our main goal for volume two was to immerse the audience in the unique gay worlds we’ve crafted, openly encouraging them to adopt a voyeuristic perspective,” says Ezekiel of the series. “It’s essentially a playful, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the eccentricities of gay pornography.”
Below, we chat to the photographer about their hilarious casting process, choosing the perfect location, and the theatrical nature of the gay porn experience.
First of all, when did you begin taking photographs for the project? Was there an exact moment of inspiration?
Ezekiel: I started shooting for volume two in early September last year. Our first story was with erotic filmmaker Sam Morris. During that summer, I came across an ad for Voyeur House TV during a period of late-night adult film viewings – for research purposes, obviously – and was intrigued by this idea of porn creators live-streaming the inside of their homes for hours on end.
I also came across someone on TikTok doing a live sleep stream where viewers were tipping them in attempts to ‘wake them up’. I went down a rabbit hole of creators who would live-stream themselves throughout the night while they simply slept. This led me to research voyeurism as part of human nature, how we are naturally inquisitive creatures, with psychological tendencies to be a little voyeuristic.
Where do you think these tendencies come from?
Ezekiel: In the realm of gay culture, voyeurism has played a significant role in our history, particularly during times when secrecy and concealment were crucial for our survival. I then started to question my own relationship with voyeurism, as someone who’s familiar with and part of gay culture. This was based on personal experiences and what I’ve witnessed through mainstream gay pornography.
“The fact that we managed to convince my friend’s uncle to get spanked on camera is incredible to me” – Ezekiel
How did you cast the subjects in the photo series? Was there a set of criteria that they had to fulfil?
Ezekiel: We’re exploring tropes found within Western pornography, so it made sense to include individuals with genuine experience in that realm. I also wanted to make sure that we cast individuals who look like they could grace the pages of a regular fashion publication. Selecting the appropriate individuals to personify the characters was also a key consideration for me.
My absolute favourite casting choice was the models in ‘The Spanking’. For this story, we were aiming to subvert mainstream portrayals of spanking by reversing the power dynamics. Tom, a mid-20s gay, is the spanker, while Mark, an older silver fox, becomes the spankee. I put up a casting call on my Instagram and received a DM from an old friend saying “my gay uncle would be perfect for this.” They were in France for a wedding, so my friend cornered his uncle during the holiday and convinced him to meet me. A few weeks later, Mark was on a train up to London to be a part of this story. The fact that we managed to convince my friend’s uncle to get spanked on camera is incredible to me.
What attracts you to a person before photographing them? Is there a common thread that all these subjects share?
Ezekiel: The main criterion for casting was: has to be gay, for obvious reasons. I say this, but there is one model in this book who is straight, Chad Steel, a stripper and porn creator who features in ‘The Neighbour’. It’s about the gay neighbour who fantasises about the hetero businessman across the road, so I thought it would be fitting. It also pokes fun at the idea of straight porn actors doing ‘gay for pay’ to attract a wider audience.
What was the process of choosing the locations for each individual shoot?
Ezekiel: Just like the casting, choosing the right location was also incredibly important in order to sell the full fantasy. For our cover story ‘The Cruiser’, I did some research – online and through word of mouth – to find the most notable cruising spots in London and Brighton. These ranged from the toilets at Liverpool Street Station, infamously known for cottaging, to the men’s pond at Hampstead Heath, frequented by George Michael, to Clapham’s ‘Cockpond’. It was important to me that these locations possessed their own inherent beauty not only by context, but also physically.
The spot that has a special significance for me is where we shot our cover story, which was Duke’s Mound in Brighton. It was my first insight into gay culture. Duke’s Mound is known as being a place where men solicit other men, so from a young age my parents warned me not to walk through this area at night. It was a full-circle moment returning to that hill and shooting a story for the book – definitely a subtle wink back to my younger self.
“I wanted to reimagine the absurdity and performative nature of [gay porn] and splash in a touch of fashion to elevate the theatrics” – Ezekiel
Each separate story almost has its own category, like the categories you’d find on a gay porn site. Was this the intention when producing the shoots?
Ezekiel: Definitely. I wanted to emphasise the ludicrousness of these mainstream categories and how they’ve essentially stripped voyeuristic behaviours of their true essence. Authentic voyeurism hinges on the subject being unaware of being observed or recorded, but in the gay pornography that attempts to depict this, everyone is an actor and complicit in the scenario. They’re all in on the joke, so it sort of turns into a flamboyant, theatrical display. I wanted to reimagine the absurdity and performative nature of these videos and splash in a touch of fashion to elevate the theatrics.
Like the cruising story, for example, I’ve taken an act that’s typically very private and transformed it into a public display, something meant to be observed rather than concealed. And with ‘The Sleepstream’ – which involves self-portraits of me watching a model ‘sleep’ in a bedroom in Paris – you’re witnessing someone who is oblivious to being observed, while they themselves are watching another person, who is similarly unaware of being watched. Essentially, the voyeur has become the spectacle. It’s very meta, and also just really stupid.
Ezekiel’s SMUT, Volume II: Voyeurism is available to pre-order here.
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