Is He Family? is a collaborative body of work created with Neil, my former drama teacher and now friend. The project takes its title from the coded language once used within queer communities, where phrases such as “are they family?” offered recognition, safety and solidarity at a time when being openly gay meant risk. That quiet code of belonging sits at the heart of the work: a conversation across generations about queerness, kinship, and what it means to belong.
In making these images, I sought to move beyond the erotic lens through which queer male identity has often been framed. With his history and presence, Neil becomes a bridge between different eras of queer life. Photographing him is both an act of care and recognition - a way of seeing identity not through desire, but through empathy and shared experience.
The theatre, where much of the work is staged, becomes a natural setting for this dialogue: a space of performance and transformation, but also of memory and rehearsal, where identities are discovered, understood and preserved. Alongside these portraits, I photographed objects from Neil’s home - markers of shared history and conversation. Together, they form a reflection on chosen family and the ways intimacy, collaboration and creative play allow us to connect and belong, regardless of who we are.
Is He Family? was published as a limited run of artist edition books in 2025. For more information check here.