Body Copy SIGNED (Hardcover)

Hardcover. To create the self-portraits in their London flat Moreno, whose day job is as a builder and decorator, took on the roles of set maker, stylist, model, and photographer. They worked alone using a tripod-mounted camera and cable shutter release. The DIY ethos extended to costumes and props, which were largely sourced from charity shops and recycling sites on a shoe-string budget. Part of the project was about redirecting energies of the labouring, working-class body into something creative, for me, rather than the benefit of a wealthy client. I also took great pleasure in pilfering paint and materials from jobs to use in my series. The one thousand lines of text are ordered alphabetically throughout the book, reading like an experimental poem. The project was made over a four year period, providing an ethnography of sorts on the archetypes, kinks, prejudices and preoccupations of non-straight masculine desire at a particular point in time and space. I began the project while in recovery from body dysmorphic disorder, as a means of addressing the crisis of how I saw myself and felt I was seen by others. Beyond the therapeutic, I hope the work provides an opportunity to reflect on themes including identity politics, neoliberal digital culture, and the performance of masculinities. I also hope it will entertain. BODY COPY has been exhibited at Encontros da Imagem, Portugal; Copenhagen Photo Festival; Singapore International Photo Festival; Ballarat International Foto Biennale and Head On, Australia; Photofusion,UK; Preus National Museum of Photography, Norway and Bibliotheque Levi Strauss and Circulation(s), France. BODY COPY is a photo-text series by artist Mitchell Moreno (they/them) exploring the performance of queer masculinities in digital culture. Moreno began the project by collating a thousand lines of text from apps and websites where men (mostly) were looking to meet other men (mostly) for sex or dates. From these texts Moreno selected 43 adverts and created ideal visual responses in the form of self-portraits to the desires expressed in each. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…