Ajamu X : my play box

On the occasion of the launch of a new publication Tate Photography : Ajamu X this presentaion of new works by Ajamu X features sitters using props and masks from Ajamu's 'playbox'. Obscuring the face yet evoking an empowered sensual presence these new portaits continue Ajamu X's experimentation with the photographic form as a stage for the Black queer body.

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Could you tell me about your first camera?

My first camera would have been a Pentax K 1000, which is work horse of a camera. It's not a beautiful looking object, however it was robust with no bells and whistles. We had a camera around the house, it was a Halina 110, I not sure how we got the camera, or who purchased it, however I do remember using it, taking images of my family in Huddersfield and using it when we used to visit our grandparents. 

What attracted you to the medium of photography?

 As a young person, I was always intrigued not necessarily by photography, but the photograph itself. I have fond memories of dressing up in my Sunday best for our family photograph. The photographer Mr Chin would take the photograph and come back two weeks later with this piece of paper called a photograph. I was always excited waiting for him to return and I thought then and still now after all these decades there is something magical about the photograph. I did not set out to become a photographer,  but I co-founded a magazine called BLAC around 1985 and was working on a piece about Body Builders and needed an image to go with the text. My mum bought me my first camera from an Empire Stores catalogue, which I paid off on a weekly basis. I always had a sense that I wanted to do something creative, however in my mind artists either painted, drew, or made sculptures and objects. Photography was the closest I could get to being an artist and the medium was accessible and most importantly affordable.  It was not long after that I went to study photography at Huddersfield Technical College, and I would also photograph some of the guys around town I was attracted to and some of my early lovers.

Which artists from the history of photography have influenced your work and why?

In regard to the history of photography, I have been drawn to late 19th-century photography. The names that come to mind are Henry Peach Robinson, Alfred Stieglitz, Frederic Holland Day and Julia Margaret Cameron. I was particularly drawn to the working practices of photographers associated with the Pictorialist tradition who wanted to rival painting. The images were soft focus and they experimented with a range of papers. They were more concerned with notions of beauty and aesthetics - photography as an art form and experience over evidence. The darkroom and the hand of the artist was central to Pictorialism. Over the last few years, I have re-engaged with these and other photographers from this period as I now work predominantly with platinum prints and the conversations then are relevant now.

Why do you use black and white photography?

Before I became interested in photography I always enjoyed watching black and white movies - I would go to all night moives in Huddersfield and watch movies such as  Freaks by Tod Browning, On the Waterfront by Elia Kazan and David Lynch's Elephant Man.  I was drawn to the use of contrast lighting and the mood that lighting conveyed.  Black and white photogrphay was also more accessible and affordable. I have always had a makeshift darkroom, whether it was the kitchen or bathroom. Black and white keeps me connected to one of the histories of photography and the tonality of a beautiful print still excites me to produce or to look at. On a theoretical level the gradients of grey, the different ranges of black and white act as a visual metaphor for how I approach my ideas and concerns around the black queer body, pleasure and the erotic.

How do you decide upon which photographic method to use and how many different methods have you used in the past?

I consciously choose what type of camera and film I want to work with and I work with a simple lighting set up, usually one light and my go to grey backdrop. My method, however, is also intuitive and driven by curiosity and the need to create something sensual, beautiful and that is usually a hunch I have in that moment, in the studio, in the darkroom. I am a firm believer in submitting to the process as being in the studio /darkroom is an act of improvisation.

How do you think the digital landscape has changed the way that artists use photography?

I think the digital landscape has changed the landscape of photography in multiple ways. In part most of the conversations are still locked into a binary framework, analogue v digital, print v screen, most of it is not that interesting. On the one hand, we have seen the closing down of independent darkrooms, major film companies have folded and we have a generation of students in art schools who may never enter or experience the smell of chemicals in a darkroom or even shoot on 35 mm /large format.

On the other hand millions of images are uploaded every day across social platforms and most people walk around with a camera in their back pocket. As a fine art photographer who works with both analogue and digital it's the advent of digital which has enabled me to ask other questions around the materiality of  the photograph in a digital world which feels more dematerialised. When I am in the studio shooting work with my digital camera I try and shoot no more than 36 frames, ideally 24 frames. This reminds  of shooting with my old Pentax K1000, when you could either purchase a box of film with 24 or 36 Frames.

How do you think the digital landscape has changed the way the audience looks at photography?

 I realise there are multiple audiences who encounter photography. I think people see photography but don’t always look at the image. Seeing the same image on the phone for example is different than seeing it in print or a gallery. I think the digital has brought in an element of speed and distractions, especially with images on smartphones and on social media platforms. It is easier to swipe than look and study. I do enjoy going to an exhibition or holding a beautiful photographic coffee table book and being seduced by an image. AI has pushed the needle further in the conversation. However in terms of the visual representations I am seeing it is still locked into an idealised body form.