We are all performing an identity
Reading an interview William Lakin conducted for 46 Space, I became determined to seek his perspective on one of the questions he asked a fellow photographer. William explains the practice and purpose of photography as “a practice that gives me a reason to engage with difficult and often frustrating topics and a way of communicating them that forces me to continually develop my own visual language.” We dive deep to discuss one of the prominent leitmotifs of his work — identity and masculinity.
William poses questions about the construct that Western culture proposes or requires to follow and offers an opportunity to deconstruct it. What constitutes a male, a male’s identity and behavior? Slowly working through concepts of control, extreme confidence, and the act of being, according to the expected gender role, William presents a path of a male through researching and finding the performative aspects of identity.
William Lakin is an artist and photographer based in London presented by ISSUE .07, a digital platform for emerging photographers. His work was exhibited in different countries across Europe, with the recent exhibition, Connection, shown in the Photographic Exploration Project in Berlin. William teaches a photography course at Middlesex University, from which he graduated with BA and MA. Recently, William founded 46 Space, which features interviews with photographers and open calls. We start this interview with William speaking about his initial steps into the sphere of photography. We discuss his experience teaching and developing students in the University. Then we move to speak about his project Five Minutes After Birth, closing the session with the topic of identity and masculinity.
‘Initially, I started taking pictures as a hobby as a teenager. This interest grew as I began studying the subject at school then at the university’
I Am
Hi William, it’s lovely to have you in the magazine! How are things going? Let’s start with your first steps into photography. How did you make this choice?
Initially, I started taking pictures as a hobby as a teenager. This interest grew as I began studying the subject at school then at the university. My interest in photography has changed quite dramatically at that time, though. At first, I was much more interested in it as a trade and thought about photographs in a very superficial way, as I think most teenagers do. Now I am much more interested in communicating ideas and thinking about developing conceptual approaches in my work.
Middlesex University
You graduated with a BA in Arts, Photography followed by an MA from Middlesex University, later staying on campus as a Graduate Academic Assistant and teaching a course in photography. How would you describe the importance of learning from your projects compared to leading students' projects on several aspects of your work?
For me, both teaching and working on my projects are mutually beneficial. I learn so much from the students I work with, and I really enjoy watching their work develop over the years. I think the practice of teaching and making work is similar in many ways — you have to communicate something in an exciting and engaging way and solve problems.
We are also very fortunate to have a very diverse group of students on the course, which means you are constantly engaging with different points of view and people with different life experiences from all over the world. This keeps you on your toes and helps you think about how visual culture is consumed by different audiences.
‘I moved towards an approach that focussed more on performativity and ambiguity, using body language, gesture, metaphor, and the visual language of tension and balance to communicate how difficult it is to fully define Western hegemonic masculinity.’
Exhibitions
You’ve exhibited quite a lot since your graduation in 2013, and despite the year of the pandemic, you’re back in 2021 with more exhibitions to follow in Braga, Birmingham, and Bologna. How did you spend 2020; which projects did you focus on? What is a connecting theme this year between the exhibitions you present that is predominant in your work?
I spent all of 2020 focussing on Five Minutes After Birth, and the project developed a lot during this time. Initially, the project was presented as an illustrated essay, but I decided to move away from this approach as I (and others) felt that the text stifled the images. I moved towards an approach that focussed more on performativity and ambiguity, using body language, gesture, metaphor, and the visual language of tension and balance to communicate how difficult it is to fully define Western hegemonic masculinity.
I continued to use text but in a way that worked in a conceptually similar way with the images. Throughout the series, I have included interviews with men in which I asked them to describe what masculinity means to them. I asked them not to use obviously gendered words like ‘masculine,’ ‘feminine,’ ‘man,’ ‘woman,’ etc., so that they were forced to give a more descriptive response instead of relying on these linguistic shortcuts. I also hope that the interviews highlight how ambiguous the idea of masculinity can be and that it is constantly shifting, culturally defined, and socially awkward for many men to talk about.
Overall, the pandemic taught me to be more resourceful, working in smaller spaces with less equipment to handle. It also taught me to be more reactive and spontaneous in my image-making, embrace mistakes, and not over-plan everything.
‘My main aim is to communicate the performativity of masculinity and the tensions and anxieties involved in performing this identity.’
Five Minutes After Birth
Five Minutes After Birth deals with preconceptions and archetypes of what being a man is or should be. Although stereotypical thinking is challenged and we are going through some immense changes in our perspective and attitudes, some still find the demands of society as unbearable. Tell about the works you decided to include in this project, and what do you think are the main challenges that have to do with fighting stereotypes connected to male identity?
My main aim is to communicate the performativity of masculinity and the tensions and anxieties involved in performing this identity. Adhering to the dominant norms of Western masculinity is a game of trial and error. In some social circles, failure to adhere to these norms can mean exclusion and ridicule; in others, it is celebrated. I think it is important to acknowledge that we are all performing an identity, whether it is conscious or not, or normative or not, and we all learn how to be based on our circumstances and social groups.
Hegemonic masculinity, however, is particularly prone to causing harm, either through physical violence or through ostracising those who do not conform. That said, I don’t know if it is necessarily bad to be ‘manly,’ rather, it is wrong to impose ideals or claim dominance over other groups based on the perceived ‘correctness’ of an identity.
Conditioning
Continuing the subject of male identity, I’d like to speak about your video project, Conditioning. The project deals with endurance and shows a male figure who is fit and engages in exercise. Especially powerful is the cut to the black screen, in which audio continues to support the viewer’s imagination of the rest of the film, yet allowing space to think about the deeper layers behind the image. What was important to you in translating your skills in still images to the moving image format?
This was my first attempt at making a moving image piece, and I think you can tell that from the simplicity of the video. It is a single, still viewpoint and captures a single, albeit repetitive action, similar to a still image. The idea came from a practice in boxing meant to condition the athlete to be able to endure this kind of impact. Essentially I am using the practice as a metaphor for social conditioning. And it made sense to make this particular piece a moving image piece as it lends itself to repetition and ideas of endurance more so than a still image would. The audio was also very important as this makes it more visceral and almost hypnotic.
‘It is a practice that gives me a reason to engage with difficult and often frustrating topics and a way of communicating them that forces me to continually develop my own visual language.’
46 Space
You have recently started your project 46 Space, in which you interview photographers and showcase exhibitions. How did 46 Space come to life, and what was the main idea behind working on your own space for contemporary photography?
46 Space came to life during the pandemic and is an idea I have been considering for a few years in various forms. When I started working from home due to the national lockdowns, I gained some time from not having to commute to work every day, coupled with a lack of opportunities for photographers to exhibit during the pandemic - meant that it felt like the right time to start something. I really enjoy editing and curating other photographer’s work and having a dialogue with other artists. It is also a very welcome diversion from obsessing over your own practice.
At the moment, the site has two online exhibitions published plus an interview. I hope to be able to curate something physically in the near future, but I am conscious not to put myself under too much pressure with it. It is meant to be a fun and experimental project space. It is not so important to me that it gains an enormous following as long as the artists I am working with are happy with the output and I am proud of what I am producing.
Using this opportunity, I’d like to pose here the question you asked Dexter McLean in your interview: "What purpose does photography serve for you personally?"
Like anyone engaging in a creative output or who enjoys their work, it gives me a sense of purpose and poses a constant but welcome challenge. It is a practice that gives me a reason to engage with difficult and often frustrating topics and a way of communicating them that forces me to continually develop my own visual language.
Next Steps
What project are you working on or planning as the next one?
I am beginning a practice-based research degree in September, and my work for this will be on the subject of conspiracy theories and group narrative formation. Other than this, I will continue to work on Five Minutes After Birth and look for opportunities to exhibit and publish the project. I have a few exhibitions coming up in Italy, Portugal, and the UK.
