Paul Mpagi Sepuya

The starck work of New York based Photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya.

“My portraits are the work generated as I explore the meaning of the desire and motivations that exist in the relationships between the young men who are my friends and at times, objects of affection, and myself, the artist. Photography is the drug that lowers my inhibition and permits me to investigate those networks of ambiguous relationships that grow out of platonic interest and sexual desire.

Photography is also a tool of pleasure, of indulgence, and of voyeurism. They are about potential, the erotic tension of the approach. This approach is just that and nothing more, a sexual act where both partners are engaged and distant. I photograph my sitters with as much nudity as they will allow me precisely because I am allowed this temporary indulgence, and because it asks both of us to acknowledge the oft-denied physical attraction within relationships”. (via).