Featured portfolio, May 2021

Spare Room, Pastel Prick and related works

by Geoffrey Heath

Interview by Serena Bentley for PhotoForum (February/March 2021)

Geoffrey Heath, Spare Room series, 1999 (click on images for captions)

A graduate of Unitec’s Bachelor of Design program, Geoffrey Heath has been making work for over 25 years. Heavily influenced by his North Shore upbringing and the sense of alienation he felt within it, his semi-autobiographical practice offers us wry and darkly humorous observations of suburban life. Amongst the selection of works featured here is the portfolio Spare Room 1999, Heath’s second major body of work which was exhibited at RM Gallery in Tamaki Makaurau the same year. Offering cool observations of his chosen sitters, Spare Room pushes the boundaries of public and private. Heath’s subjects exude both confidence and vulnerability - emotions that permeate his oeuvre. Often toeing the line between sincerity and cliche, Heath offers us superlatives like ‘I love you’ and ‘Happy Everything’. Perhaps this is a defence mechanism. Heath is interested in facades, knowing only too well that they often obscure our deepest vulnerabilities.

What was your life like when you made the series Spare Room 1999?

It was the late 1990s and I was boarding in a run-down house in Auckland. It was an exciting time for me as an adult student, completing a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communications majoring in Photography at Unitec. While studying I was juggling multiple jobs, starting with cleaning toilets in a pub at seven in the morning, followed by uni classes, and finishing with working in a video shop until eleven at night. I was in a perpetual state of nervous exhaustion but it was worth it as I discovered compelling works by photographers who until then were unbeknownst to me, and who helped inform my photography. I was so focused on my studies I was virtually celibate for most of the 1990s!

Which photographers were you looking at and how did they influence you?

There were some New Zealand photographers who applied an economy of means in their work that appealed to me and made me want to look closer. They included the stripped back portraits of artists taken by Adrienne Martyn in the 1980s, Robin Morrison's direct yet personal views of people and buildings, and Christine Webster's staged figures set against black theatrical backdrops.

I was also struck by the work of American photographers William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe, to name a few. They all had their own unique aesthetic with subject matter ranging from documenting everyday life, portraying individuals and marginalised groups living on the edge of mainstream society, and addressing issues of sexuality in a frank and direct manner.

Their images inspired me to develop my own practice exploring similar themes, some with a semi-autobiographical subtext. My hope was to exhibit my photographs, which was realized through early exhibition opportunities at galleries including Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin and Ramp Gallery, Wintec, Hamilton. Many of my works operate as memory triggers, intended to trigger some level of personal experience in the viewer. I think of my work as 'constructed snapshots' which reference the snapshot aesthetic, documentary and studio photography.

Geoffrey Heath, Spare Room series, 1999

Spare Room epitomises your description of the constructed snapshot. What was your process creating this series? How did you select your subjects?

I had established relationships to varying degrees with each of the subjects. This made it easier to photograph them in their homes. I liked the challenge of being greeted with the unexpected and having to work with what was available. I would arrive at their dwellings armed with a medium format film camera, tripod and lighting. In essence I was setting up a portable photography studio at each site. Part of the objective of this series was to observe if the subject's domestic environment could provide some insight into their personality in the final photographs. I approached these portraits with the notion that a still photograph alone could not capture a subject’s personality. The camera can effectively record a person’s physical features, but we are still dealing with the surface. I think capturing a person’s inner being is another challenge.

I enjoy the tension between the revelation and obscuring of identity in Spare Room. Is photography's slippery relationship with truth something you seek to exploit?

The assumption that reportage and documentary photography are objective and factual documents has always intrigued me. I knowingly leverage these traditional sensibilities and subtly twist them, constructing a staged version of reality. I have been contemplating the theory that an artist’s work is all a form of self portraiture. When I created these works I was in a different head space in which I was still working through trauma. My life was a balancing act of anxiety and confidence, elements which I think come through in these portraits.

In retrospect I think these photographs were in part a coping mechanism that helped clarify who I was and my reality in the world. I seem to see myself and life more clearly through photographs.

Geoffrey Heath, For ever, Exhibition, 2007

Your work oscillates between optimism and pessimism (photographs like Happy Everything 2005 and For ever 2007 being notable examples). Is this an effect you strive for?

A lot of my work contains a level of skepticism and black humor, especially when addressing key calendar social events such as birthdays, Christmas and New Year, which for some can trigger feelings of discomfort or unease. Set against a backdrop of suburban banality these scenes offer an alternative reading to society's expected norms. My photographs are dedicated to those who recall locking themselves in their bedroom on Christmas day or feel depressed for no reason on New Years Eve. 'Laughing on the outside and crying on the inside'.

For ever is set against a light industrial and residential landscape on Auckland's North Shore.

A young man ascends into an overcast sky on a humid afternoon. It recalls my young adult experiences as gay, and a struggling born again Christian working in retail in the 1980s. I used to wear pink socks and a matching pink leather tie to work. For ever could be read as an escape from suburbia, or referencing my childhood dreams of flying over the paddocks located behind the family home in Sunset Rd.

Geoffrey Heath, Exhibitions: Circle of Love, 2005 and Scheduled Entertainment, 2010 (r/h image)

The pink tie also materialises in Blind Date 2004. Are there autobiographical strains in this work too?

In the 1980s I wore leather ties in a range of colours. At one stage I added a moustache to my look. I imagined the gentleman with the moustache and greasy chin depicted in Blind Date is out on the town, half-cut and has just consumed some takeaways. The boutonnière featured on the lapel of the suit jacket I proudly made myself using a carnation bought from the local dairy and tin foil from the kitchen cupboard. This is a highly constructed image, imbued with humour. But yes you could say there are autobiographical strains in this work - as far as the fashion depicted is concerned.

All images: Geoffrey Heath, Pastel Prick, Untitled

From the 2002 series Pastel Prick to For ever, can you talk about your approach to representing queerness?

It was while studying at Unitec that I first saw Robert Maplethorpe’s sexually explicit photographs. Maplethorpe established himself as a successful New York based artist in the 1980s and exhibited both fine art photography and sexually explicit material. His photographs depicting gay BDSM, for instance, reflected the type of content that could normally only be sourced through underground adult material distributors at that time. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of detailed photographs of penises and exquisite orchids which I discovered in a high-end Maplethorpe publication. Each subject was given the same level of technical attention.

Pastel Prick is my response to some of Mapplethorpe’s photographs. I was investigating ways of creating highly suggestive images without resorting to sexually explicit content. My process included using everyday found objects as key props. For instance I discovered the plastic dagger featured in one of the photographs in the toy section of a $2 shop. I was struck by the irony that a symbol of violence could also operate as a child’s toy. I was interested in the power of suggestion using symbols, colour and simplified form. I introduced pastel colours, reflective of memories of similar colours in my dust-free childhood bedroom, and 1980s colours found in fashion and interior design.

I have produced two bodies of work that focus on queer content. Private Pleasure 1999 and Pastel Prick 2002. All my other exhibitions have included a range of subject matter where only one or two images have a queer subtext. This type of content is only one component in any given exhibition I am working on, just as in my life there are many other things which encapsulate who I am as a person. I have never considered my queer themed work to be politically driven, rather it reflects my interests and life experiences.

My work is there to be interpreted by the viewer as they wish. However it is encouraging to see a growing interest in LGBTQIA+ themed art and the art of other marginalised communities. When I was studying at Unitec in the 1990s there appeared to very little hard copy information available from the library on New Zealand artists who addressed queer content. It seemed to be missing from the New Zealand art history canon. You have to remember at the time there was little online content, and the proliferation of social media we take for granted now had not even commenced.

What are you working on at the moment?

I have an ongoing project set against the backdrop of the current housing crisis. My latest series will combine my interest in 1970s and 1980s residential architecture with semi-autobiographical content. I am considering experimenting with scale and how this changes the reading of an overall exhibition. I am also interested in current real estate signage design and advertising strategies, particularly the vocabulary used to seduce a potential buyer. I have always wanted to incorporate text into my photographs and this is a good opportunity to consider how text could enhance some of the works . No doubt the final images will feature the subtle Heath touch of optimism and pessimism we have all grown to love - or hate.

Serena Bentley is a curator and writer from Tāmaki Makaurau currently based in Melbourne. This July she will present Choose Happiness, a major group exhibition featuring the work of emerging and established Australian and New Zealand artists exploring the ephemeral nature of happiness at MAMA Albury.