Sun 29 Nov 2015 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
Jac Lynch was lying in bed on a Sunday morning, playing on Facebook, when a story about Meg Allen's BUTCH photo project in the USA came up. Thinking it would be great to do something similar in Wellington, Jac put out an open call for anyone who identified with the term to get in touch. And so, the Butch on Butch photo project was born. Butch on Butch portrait of Lynley Farnworth “I purposely didn't specify sex, gender or sexual orientation,” says Jac, “Each of the 20 participants were asked to provide a narrative to go with their portrait. It's in the narratives where you find both common and different experiences and relationship to the term butch, and their words help challenge assumptions.” “The very first photo shoot featured Stevei Houkamau who talked to identifying as wahine toa rather than butch.” For Jac, butch is a masculinity that defies social norms. “It’s relevant to me also being queer and how I present in the world and relate to people in my community. It's a label for something that feels innate to me. Photographer Jac Lynch “I don't think it's an excuse to behave badly or assume male privilege. I try to express it in ways that are passionate, compassionate, caring and responsible. I've become much more aware of this having heard some of the challenges and frustration expressed by some femmes about their experience of some butches.” The photographer exhibited the project in February at Wellington’s Photospace Gallery and says the response has been both supportive and enthusiastic. PrideNZ.com also commissioned a series of podcast interviews with the participants. With the project coming to an end, Jac is sharing the photos together with the narratives of each person on the Butch on Butch Facebook page. Building up a substantial following over ten months, Jac says one of pitfalls with social media is the loss of control over the images once they are up so each post has the permission of the participants and images are distributed among the Facebook page fans and their friends. “So far there's been a hugely positive response which is supported by some beautiful comments,” Jac says. Interested in gender and queerness, this won’t be the last project we see from the Wellington based photographer. Check out the photos on the Butch on Butch Facebook page. - 29th November 2015