Graduating this year from BA Fine Art Drawing, Samuel Hopper’s final project is titled Class of: Closeted Youth.
We spoke to Samuel about his practice which revolves around expressing forms of identity through a narrative.
Samuel also shared his experience of working from home and using his home studio set up to explore his interest in ‘gender-bending’.
Can you please describe your practice?
I am reflecting upon the feminine things I was held back from experiencing as a young gay kid in a straight world, by creating characters and adopting their identities in forms of self-portraiture.
Setting up my own studio gave me the freedom to shoot on my own time and without many limitations. The process was done on a tiny budget, so I had to be creative in the ways that I styled and executed the shoots. Using mine and my housemate’s wardrobes as well as her make-up meant the work had a dress up element to it, reminiscent of childhood experiences.
My practice became more focused on my personal experiences, drawing from things from my childhood and using them to drive my practice. Making the work more personal led to me becoming the sole subject of the photographs, something I don’t think I would have done unless this change in circumstance happened.
The shift also made my practice become more photography-based which is what I am most familiar with, as I didn’t have access to the workshops and tutors in the last few months who would have helped me to test other materials.
Class of: Closeted Youth explores challenges I faced growing up gay and confronting them through my intention to create a space where the 12-year-old boy in me can feel safe to explore.
Aesthetically I am inspired by nostalgia: by teen movies, toys and magazines that were traditionally made for girls when I was growing up. I wanted the work to convey the process of working in lockdown; using two images for each look, one that depicts my intention of adopting identities and the other depicting my handcrafted approach to permeate the piece with a sense of personal experience, through the embodiment and empowerment of striving.
I was keen to play with the conventions of a school yearbook: a grey backdrop with frigid poses, captioned with quotes to give a deeper sense of nostalgia.
I shot all the images myself, using a tripod, a laptop and a remote for the camera. I also styled each set and chose costumes myself, with some help for the make-up. I was drawing from very personal experiences, but ones that I think can be recognised by many. I think it’s important to open the ideas of gender, and for it not to be so regimented in the expectations of boys and girls.
Do you have any tips for students – what has helped you remain positive and keep creating during this time?
To keep positive, I had to remind myself that I am good at what I do. It’s was easy to forget what my actual skill base was because I was so frustrated in how to adapt my practice. But looking at what I liked doing, shooting portraits and styling photos, I felt much better about my practice and the potential it had.
What career paths are you considering once graduating?
I’m looking into music promotion photography – shooting gigs and promotional images for bands and artists. I want to expand my skill base in creating concepts for photo shoots, styling and working with more models.
I love exploring narratives and visual storytelling, so I’m also keen on photojournalist work, working with queer people and helping support our community.
