Harry
he/him
Disobey
For Harry, “Disobey” is less about breaking rules and more about refusing to keep making himself smaller for other people.
Growing up, he became very good at editing himself – knowing what to say, what not to say, how loud to be, how much of himself was safe to show. The tattoo came from reaching a point where he simply didn’t want to do that anymore.
There’s a long history of queer people being told how to behave, who to love, how to dress and when to stay quiet. A lot of the progress queer people have made came from those who were considered difficult, disruptive or simply unwilling to obey. Having “disobey” permanently written across his face feels like a small nod to that history.
And then there’s the rest of him. His tattoos aren’t a carefully curated collection — they’re more like a physical map of an ADHD brain: impulsive decisions, strange ideas, things he loves, things that make him laugh and things that mean something only to him. His appearance is constantly evolving, and he likes it that way.
It’s messy, excessive and probably a little bit inappropriate.
Which feels pretty fucking appropriate.
Body Language.
“For over thirty years, my work has centred on visibility, authorship and who gets to be seen.
This project continues my long-term commitment to photographing LGBTQIA+ lives.
For a lot of LGBTQ+ people, modifying the body is a way of marking a transition, standing in for something lost, or taking back a body that wasn’t always theirs to shape in the first place. That personal story is one I want to tell.”
Chris Jepson, photographer