Yushi Li

0:10hello everyone my name is usually and yes I do like sushi but I'm not Japanese so basically I'm a Chinese woman who takes photographs of naked Western men in the UK and currently I'm doing my PhD in arts and humanities at Royal College of Art and I mainly work in photography and during my studies at the RCA I have developed a strong interest in question of the case in relation to gender desire and sexuality and today I'm going to hare with you about the two main projects I did recently so in the project might in the boys I photograph different men I met 13 eating naked in their own kitchens at the starting point of this project I was inspired by these

1:22very clichéd sexy photos of naked women and food and I also went for dinner with my tinder dates sometimes so I thought why why not having some special and more meaningful dates and so basically I messaged more than 300 men until most of them just ignored me some of them replied but wanted something else and only 15 of them said yes in the end I guess it's just like how it works for some [ __ ] boys on tinder and I I took some screenshots of the conversations so we can have a look at how these men responded to my artistic proposal that depends is there a chance of sex in return can I choose to eat you in the photo shoot as long as the photographer

2:35is naked as well makes me more comfortable asking too much you're not really selling it and this this is my favorite one very direct and he copy copied my first line just so you know I'm here for casual sex so yes if I can [ __ ] you and doing these unusual days I was both the violator who tried to invite their private space and also the desired object that participated in their vulnerability it can be seen that there are certain precariousness in the way these men staged themselves for my photographs which reviews immense uncertainty in knowing how to be erotic for the camera for quite a long period

3:29of time women have always been something pretty something to be looked at as John Berger says men Act women a pair I'm quite tired of seeing naked women everywhere and everybody is talking about how beautiful female bodies are I mean I agree with that hundred percent but I think male bodies are equally beautiful like coming don't you think he has a nice bone so and as a hitter sexual female photographer I'm attracted to male bodies and more importantly I want to use my work to explore ways for women to express our sexual desire and in order to expand my investigation of this power relationship inherent in the gays I started the project your reservation is confirmed this is the line you receive

4:37when you book an air B&B so in this project I booked I booked the ideal home via air B&B book the ideal men through live modeling website to construct my ideal images so I work in analog and this is one of the Polaroid tests I did for the shooting and these are hand prints made in the darkroom I think I quite like the contrast between the digital screen and these analog prints because like during these photo shoots I always need to work with the uncertainties and limitations given by the space and the man I booked through the internet you know sometimes the room is too small the man is not as handsome

5:40as the image online so there's always a gap between the read the ideal what I want and the real what I actually get so by putting myself in the picture I try to create a more dynamic relationship between the looked at object the viewer and the third party who is looking at the viewer for me the women in the picture is not really myself but more like a female figure who functions in the same way as the man the table and the teacup so in a way we are all just probes for the for the image I want to create I think what attracts me the most is not really the body but the fantasy of being in control and by the way this guy was

6:53peeing in the picture I made two cups of tea for him and he managed to pee for me twice which was a really good job but it didn't it didn't smell very nice but you know we did it for art so in a way their nakedness is more than a representation of a autism and also an it an indicator of my attempt to have the power over them but the power is always shifting between me and the man and the viewer of the image I think is it's a bit like a game for me and I quite enjoy doing it so by creating these intimate encounters with different male strangers and bringing the illusions of desired life out of the digital screen I try to use my work to play with the power

8:18relationship inherent in the gaze and examine established ways of staging erotism and intimacy so thank you very much