Sexual Portraits of NYC's Bad Boys, and Me

"I kind of hate every picture of New York that I see," Kiwi artist Megan Christiansen told me over Skype from the city she calls home—the evening sun thrown across the wall of her Manhattan apartment, my breath clouding inside an Auckland villa. Although that might not be strictly true anymore: the 28-year-old has just released a book, BAD BOY, filled with them. But her images couldn't be further from Woody Allen-like nostalgia or tourist-board promotion. In one, her naked form, covered in leopard spots, stands like the apartment block behind her; bodies arch sinuously over city infrastructure; interior spaces are haunted by former or current lovers; scenes we seemingly shouldn't have permission to observe are forever preserved.

Megan moved from Auckland to New York four-and-a-half years ago, and BAD BOY in many ways is the story of that move, told through self-portraits, photos of the men in her life, and descriptions of the artist herself submitted by some of the men. The result is an extended exploration of self that doubles as a chronicle of the artist's own interaction with New York, with the bodies of its men and with the body of the city itself.

VICE caught up with Megan to talk about life on the other side of the world, nudity, and the politics of photographing friends and lovers.

VICE: This project feels almost like a document of that struggle to re-establish yourself on the other side of the world.
Megan Christiansen: New York is like a very hard city, I think, for anyone. For me, as an artist living here it was even more difficult. I think every person that is trying to do something creative over here has to figure out the way they are going to sustain themselves and do their creative projects because it's obviously not a cheap city to live in and not an easy city to live in. I came from New Zealand where I had a lot of support and I had a network—friends and fellow creatives—so to uproot your practice and take that to the other side of the world has its challenges.

When I started the project I was almost doing two projects. I was working on a series of self-portraits and I was just sort of photographing people who were around and that just happened to be men—a lot of my friends are male, and some I was romantically involved with. It wasn't until I'd been shooting those two projects for a little while that I realised they were part of this one bigger idea and this was this self-portrait and an exploration of myself over those years.

Tell me about the men you chose to shoot.
So it's a mix of both friends and lovers, and my friends that are gay and straight. Just people that I came across over those first years that I found a connection with or I was drawn to or fascinated by.

Why only men?
Photographing guys is really interesting. I think a little bit more of their personality comes across and it's interesting to get through this ego they present when you first start photographing them.

There's obviously a hugely sexual element to a lot of this work, but it's presented alongside a sense of the everyday and captured photography that isn't overtly sexual at all. Why the juxtaposition?
I think getting a little bit of that mix-up and juxtaposition in this project was really important because I like that kind of off-the-cuff, not-so-staged aesthetic. With the more staged portraits, I think it gives it a little bit more movement and a little bit more tension. It was definitely intentional, just based on how I photograph. I'm not a trained photographer at all—I just know how to take the pictures that I like, and that's probably not the right way, but it's what I like.

There's a fair bit of nudity involved. Did it take some convincing to get these guys involved?
I was honestly surprised by how little convincing it took. I thought people were definitely going to be a little more resistant. I asked everyone that I shot, whether I was romantically involved with them or just friends, I asked them how comfortable they were with nudity. The ones who agreed to appear nude in the book, I was actually surprised at how little convincing it took, because that is not a small ask to get someone to put themselves out there like that. I hope it was that they feel comfortable with me and they have that trust that I am going to present them in a way that is honest.

Alongside the photos, you've included text from some of the men with whom you were romantically involved—tell me about that.
I just told them, you can write whatever you want to write about me—it can be anything as long as it's honest. I told them it was going to be anonymous and unedited.

And why include that?
Because this whole project is a self-portrait, I wanted to play with the power between myself and the guys involved. I wanted to involve men and use them as this mirror: like, these are the people I've surrounded myself with, these are the people that obviously mean something to me and I have an interest in. You really do shift a lot of the power to the photographer when you're doing portrait work like this so I wanted to give that power back to them to say hey, I want you to give me your take on me. If there's unresolved feelings, if there's anything you want to say, this is your forum to say it in.

Why only ask that of the guys you were involved with romantically?
I thought my friends might be a little too nice. I wanted honesty and I wanted there to be that extra layer of connection. I imagined guys I'd been with would be a little more harsh, or a little more honest. There were certain people with whom there are unresolved feelings or unresolved issues that they might have some commentary towards. Some of them weren't super-honest or super-intense. It was interesting to see who was and who wasn't willing to be really honest and put themselves and their feelings out there. And I think that's a guy thing.

And it adds an interesting interplay—you can't really hide anything in a photograph, but you can hide what ever you want in a piece of writing.
Exactly. The ones really put themselves out there in terms of the pieces that they wrote actually took me back more [than the guys who agreed to be shot naked] and were very brave—I think it makes the book. The text adds a richness. I really tried to have this ambiguity so you don't really know who is or isn't a friend or a lover, you don't know if we're on good or bad terms, or if we're still involved. I wanted there to be this ambiguity through the whole project.

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