Jason Hanasik, Or: I haven't been posting enough to the blog so I'm posting something now, but even if I had been posting I'd still write something

Jason Hanasik
7 November 2008
'Family Matters' and 'He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore'

So on Friday there was an artist lecture over yonder at the photo building, as well as a little Obama press conference teaser (but you had to go home to see the whole thing. Sneaky...)

Jason Hanasik paid us a visit from CCA to talk about some of his work, particularly focusing on his thesis project, 'He Opened Up...' This is a project depicting men in the Marines- predominantly his best friend Patrick and a friend of his Steven (whose brother died in Iraq) in various poses, locations, etc that centers around a discussion regarding prototypical 'maleness' and heteronormativity. The project aims to critique gender presentation and representations of the 'classic' male figure. Hanasik photographs his subjects in unlikely poses, such as the one you can see below that Deirdre posted the other day. They are not all so obvious however- my favorite photo was actually one of his friend Patrick casually standing in front of an open door; displaying indicators of 'prototypical maleness,' such as his strict haircut, but his posture, gaze, and relaxed nature invited questions about what was being challenged regarding male representation.

One of the things I appreciated about the lecture was his language. Hanasik was careful to speak about 'making' pictures, which I prefer to hear (rather than 'taking' which denies important elements of the photographer's agency and process in creating work), and tried to tease out the differences between questions regarding gender presentation, maleness, sexual orientation, etc- he noted where these potentially intersected, but also suggested where they might part ways. He also said something about "photographing people in the places we find each other." I appreciate the attention to detail in his language and the reflexivity this statement implied. He recognized the reciprocal nature of such work as well as his agency as a photographer, involved in a collaborative project with a participant, as opposed to the classic, 'detached' observer.

I'm beginning to lose it here. I don't have my right brain on. Too many sociology articles later... Anyway- I'll stop here, but leave off with a list of themes he presented that I found interesting:

-equipment's (i.e. specific camera) influence on work- what camera suits a particular project
-small town politics
-comfort of subject vs. comfort of photographer
-"learning images"
-big color, size
-"constructed documentary"
-essentializing of the "gay look"