40 Gscene
WHAT DOES YOUR
IDENTITY
MEAN TO YOU?
Chris Jepson, photographer extraordinaire, talks to Jaq Bayles about his ongoing project and how it has forged connections within the community ) As Chris Jepson lays down his camera
following a (physically distanced, of course) photoshoot for his ongoing Identity Project, he confesses to having 40,013 photographs in his iPhone’s Recents folder. That might seem like pretty promiscuous snappery, but Chris sees subjects worth capturing everywhere in the world around him and has been making a living from pictures (and reportage – he also does PR for Brighton & Hove Pride) for the past 20 years, since swapping a career in chemistry for a life in design.
But the coronavirus pandemic pulled the rug out from under his regular gigs covering the scene for QX, Boyz and others. With bars shut and no scene to speak of, there was nothing for him to cover and the magazines pretty much went into hibernation, so he found himself looking back through his archive with a view to “doing a 20 years retrospective of London clubland”, which will be a work in progress.
As a gay man in his 40s Steve is in peak physical condition, helped in no small part by the fact he owns and runs a successful independent personal training company. He also has a stoma and has become an advocate for awareness of the condition as well as the stigma and mental health issues associated with it.
Given the proliferation of shots on his phone, that must have appeared a Herculean task, but viewing his portfolio from an objective position led Chris to a realisation that in turn would result in his latest venture. “I noticed that most of what I was shooting was being done to a brief – the club and the hot shirtless guy. It was not a very representative portrait of the community,” says Chris. He determined then that he wanted to do something that was “much more inclusive and. Diverse, and anybody who wanted to be photographed, if I could, I would do it”. He adds that he didn’t know where the Identity Project would start and where it would finish, but he has his sights set on portraits of some 200 people who identify as being on the LGBTQ+ spectrum and has already collected more than half of those. “I am 52 now so I’m getting to a point where I want to do something for me for a change. I hadn’t done much personal work photographically.”
“The images are presented on a neutral background in black and white giving a result that is more objective but at the same time inclusive, in that each one, devoid of its surroundings, becomes a component part of a larger story of community. Like a brick in a wall or a jigsaw piece. So a barber in Brazil is sitting in the same light as a peer in the House of Lords in London, half a world away from each other but connected.” He adds that “all families have disagreements and moments of discord, and the rainbow family is no exception, but I am hoping this Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, or ‘Lady Phyll’, is executive director of the Kaleidoscope Trust, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for the human rights of LGBTQ+ people in countries where they are discriminated against, and a co-founder of UK Black Pride, Europe's largest celebration for LGBTQ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent.
A Matter of Identity
On his Identity Project website, Chris explains: “From religious to secular, young to old, performer to military, this series of black and white portraits presents the diverse faces of LGBTQ+ people from myriad walks of life across the globe, challenging stereotypes, reframing assumptions and dispelling the myths of perceived identity.
