Welcome to Archer’s Queer Fashion Files! Each month, we interview trendsetters and tastemakers, showcasing the diversity and talent of the fashion world. You can check out all episodes of our Queer Fashion Files here.

In Episode 23, Hailey Moroney chats to Jarrad Levy about queer headshots, fetish photography and working with Converse.

Jarrad Levy is a queer artist dancing between photography, directing and content creation. Originally from the small town of Two Rocks, WA; he is now based in Naarm, chasing dreams of shooting fashion campaigns, building visual brands for musicians and expanding his own artistic portfolio. Growing up rural gave Jarrad an innate curiosity and imagination, while his love for digital media – music, movies and video games – has fostered a love for storytelling and world building. His queerness informs his practice through vibrant colour palettes and celebrating the beauty in everything. Jarrad is currently developing his first solo exhibition on capturing queer artists and space makers as celestial bodies.

All images by: Jarrad Levy

Hailey Moroney: Jarrad! Hellooooo. I found your work on Instagram and instantly wanted to interview you. You have such a consistent use of bright colour and flash that has built a visual identity into your work. How long have you been shooting and developing this aesthetic?

Jarrad Levy: Thank you for such kind words! I have been making things with cameras since I was a kid.

I come from a family of movie lovers, and grew up making stop motion animations and short films. I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I lived far away from my friends and always created in a very chaotic and spontaneous way, so photography became the middle ground; whenever I got an idea, I could just take my camera and my tripod and use myself as the subject.

My taste for colour and lighting definitely comes from my love of cinema. Sci-fi, horror and animation have always been strong loves for me – the escapism and fantasy would make my imagination whir and my heart race. My goal is to make things that are otherworldly, cinematic and colourful.

HM: Queer headshots: how did this concept come about? We’re obsessed.

JL: Actually, I have my friend Sebastian Pasinetti to thank for bringing this idea to life. I was feeling a bit directionless when I first moved to Melbourne from Perth, and I was talking with Sebastian about how I wanted to use my photography to give back to the queer community in some way. He developed the idea and invited me to take headshots in his restaurant. 

Sebastian planted the seed, and I’ve continued to run the event as a way that queer people can have professional headshots done at an affordable cost. Often a good portrait is the visual cue people need to view you as a professional, and it’s unfair to be priced out of that, especially when queer people more often experience financial insecurity.

HM: Can you tell us about your other project In Decent Exposure and why you created another account to platform the work?

JL: In Decent Exposure is a space for me to share work I create within the sex work industry and fetish community, whereas my main account is for sharing my art, identity and opinions in a family-friendly way (lol).

Instagram is undoubtedly (and unfortunately) an integral tool in sharing your portfolio with the world, and in getting work and making connections you wouldn’t otherwise have. Unfortunately, sex work and the fetish community are still regarded as taboo, and I wasn’t sure how me sharing that photography would reflect on my career prospects. I started the secondary account to share those images, and advertise that people in these spaces have a queer man that they are safe to work with.

I still have inner conflict about separating my work in this way – self-censoring my art feels strange – and I may just one day merge the two. But I am extremely proud of the pun, so for now, it’s sticking around.

HM: How did your Converse partnership come about?! How was that experience as a queer artist?

JL: I was pushed to apply for the converse partnership by my friend Julai, a Naarm-based queer rapper/dancer. I feel like that’s a little bit of a pattern with me – I often don’t think I’m worthy of opportunities and don’t push myself to take them. But the welcome dinner [with Converse] was really affirming! I met so many lovely, passionate, creative people who are all doing cool things, and I was sitting at the table as well.

As an image maker, I’m pushing myself to do a couple photoshoots with Converse products as a way of building some commercial/ad work into my portfolio. Particularly as a queer artist, Converse has been a great company to work with. They proudly represent youth culture and community in all its facets, and I feel that they believe the most exciting ideas come from artists with different experiences and backgrounds.

HM: How does your queer lens inform your shooting, ethics and the way you navigate being a freelancer? Not the easiest job in the world, but queers are particularly good at it!

JL: You’re so right. Queers have the audacity to make things work, along with the stubbornness to not give up on something they truly love. 

It’s a huge blessing that people trust me, and want me to photograph them. I think acknowledging that trust is a huge part of the ethics in my practice; being photographed carries a level of vulnerability, and it’s a blessing that people trust me to capture them. 

Being queer means I approach photoshoots with patience and empathy. I’ve had experiences when I show a client photos of themselves and they experience such gender-affirming elation, or it could be the opposite and we need to take a moment, adjust the lighting or change their look.

I want the experience of being photographed to be empowering – for you to see the best version of yourself through my lens, to see that image of yourself that’s on your vision board. 

HM: What advice would you give to up-and-coming queer photographers trying to navigate the industry? There’s certainly no blueprint, but through this series I endeavour to show queer youth that no single path is the correct one, as long as they’re creating work they’re proud of!

JL: Find art that you love and copy it! In the process of copying what you love, you will learn about process, you will develop your own taste, you will try things and hate it or love it and build your own style along the way. The other thing that I feel has always served me is that there is always something to learn. A different way of doing, seeing or exploring things.

Never close yourself off to trying a new technique, because the day you stop playing and experimenting in your art is the day you stop growing as an artist.

If you want to pitch an idea for Archer’s Queer Fashion Files, email pitch@archermagazine.com.au with ‘QUEER FASHION FILES’ in the subject line. You can check out the rest of our Queer Fashion Files here.