In the lives of Karlo Martinez and J Davies, the time has come for summing up. In this post, we can gain an insight into their friendship spent together and documented throughout. Karlo will soon be moving to Europe, so they reviewed the past years. Welcome them with love.
J Davies: I was studying back then and I remember my work was mostly driven by destigmatizing the naked human body – trying to convey that our bodies aren’t inherently sexual either. I was more interested in the abstraction of the form and seeing figures as sculptures. It’s funny that you were beginning your sexploration at this time and I was actively working against it.
Karlo: I remember we met through Instagram (and this was taken on the first day we met in person). At the time I was in peak exploration of my sexuality through self-portraiture and collaborating with photographers. I remember I had a Tumblr account, I called it “The Book of Karlo”, and I was inspired by “The Book of Igor” by William Baker. This was back when Tumblr was good and uncensored.
J Davies: This was probably the first time I purposefully photographed two people together, in this gentle investigation of connection. I remember we set up a group chat to become more acquainted. We threw our ideas and inspirations into the chat and continued communicating and planning there for a number of years following. This group chat enabled us to form comfortable relationships that really aided our future collaborations.
Karlo: I was super nervous but also kind of excited because this was going to be the first time I would be on camera interacting with someone else. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this shoot, although I knew that it wasn’t going to be anything raunchy as we shot this in an empty classroom at your university. Little did I know this was going to be the start of some amazing images with James in the future.
J Davies: After a year of traveling the world, and the end of my long term relationship, I came back to Melbourne with a new perspective, a new outlook. I remember we reconnected through Instagram again and we talked about exploring more intimate collaborations – more explicit stuff too. Much more-so than the ways I was previously making images. I remember this afternoon being more of a get-to-know-each-other day rather than a planned shoot day. The video is a compilation of different bits and pieces from our many shoots together. With video production, I’m often interested in documenting certain moments from certain angles that allude to the whole picture rather than depicting the entire scene. Often the suggestion of sexuality is sufficient for me.
Karlo: It was the first time we got together and reconnected in a while, so it was more of a hang out to catch up and have a few beers at my apartment at first – a place where we would go on and produce many of our other shoots together. This was probably the first time I genuinely started to feel more comfortable with you in terms of expressing myself and my sexuality on camera. Looking now at the full video compiling almost all our shoots, I find it almost confronting to see myself, from an outside perspective, in these situations and discovering my facial expressions or behaviors when intimate with someone else. To this day I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to see a video of me being intimate with someone else without turning my eyes away or blushing which completely baffles me since I’m so comfortable in being photographed or recorded in such situations.
/ the video will be exhibited/published at a late date
J Davies: When conceiving this shoot, or any other, it was important to me to gauge people’s level of comfort with certain situations as it is important that everyone is on the same page and feeling good about what’s being photographed or recorded. Throwing images and discussing ideas before the shoot, through the medium of a mood board on a group chat, is a good way for people to openly view and share what they would feel comfortable with, or what they wouldn’t feel comfortable with, and make the day of the shoot much more enjoyable.
Karlo: I really loved this shoot because I remember being genuinely excited and looking forward to it since we had discussed mood boards and ideas beforehand. We all kind of knew what the tone of the shoot would be and, even if there were some nerves at the beginning, I think the natural chemistry between James and I really flourished for the camera. It was sexy, queer, a bit raunchy… I think this image we chose just says it all. I was pretty hot and bothered afterwards.
J Davies: This was our first location shoot together and a few days before COVID lockdown. I remember we were talking about it in the car on our way to the location. I think we felt a sense of urgency to make the most of that day because we knew things would change shortly after. The sense of fleeting freedom translates throughout these images. I remember the two of you changing into matching thongs and climbing trees and catching the eyes of joggers and middle-aged women going for their daily strolls. There’s a real air of nonchalance in the photos in my car – that we parked down an alleyway in Collingwood. These were the first really raunchy photos I ever took of two people together. You can see a lot of excitement and trust in this series too.
Karlo: Definitely my favorite shoot with James. I feel like we captured a sense of liberty, freedom, and hedonism that was just about to be taken away from us because of COVID. I love how shameless we were, just running around in some thongs in this huge public park, or naked inside a parked car around the corner from my gym. My favorites are the photos of us by that tree – so erotic yet quite delicate.
J Davies: This was a very chill hangout. I don’t think there was a specific idea or mood for the day but more of a catchup after our first few months of covid lockdowns. Together we just drank beers and played dress ups. These images are really playful and have a relaxed and kind of cheeky vibe to them. By this stage we’d very much broken the ice and were very comfortable with each other. You and James just had such natural chemistry. It’s wild that this was the last time we shot together!
Karlo: This was a very cute time. It was almost like a lockdown comedown. I remember we just wanted to have some sort of human interaction, some intimacy, and catch up, be silly, and create some images. It felt like a very easy day and I don’t think we had a specific idea in mind. I remember James and I trying different underwear and clothes and just going with the flow. I particularly remember finishing shooting lying naked on James’ bed and, just as we were about to chill and have a beer, I asked you both if it was okay if I jerked off. I was so horny and on edge and almost like over-stimulated after months of lockdown but I felt so comfortable in that environment that I wasn’t afraid to make such a request and it just made me feel incredibly comfortable and accepted. Idk. It was a big deal for me, particularly after dealing with shame and feelings of repressed sexuality for many years.
J Davies: By this stage Dyl, Karlo and I had all collaborated with each other individually. This night was the first time we decided to hang out together and just fuck around and take some photos and get a bit silly.
Quite quickly we established a lot of similarities in our ethos and creative intentions, we also came to realize we were all very different in certain areas as well. I remember one of us throwing out the idea of a collaborative exhibition – we were very aware we’d have to carve our own space in the city as our work wasn’t the general direction gallery spaces were programming here. I’m still so impressed we managed to get our asses into gear and create our own collective from a boozy night – I’m still so impressed we didn’t name our collective Bum Buddies like we briefly considered.
Karlo: I think this was the start of something special. I remember being incredibly sad and emotional around that time as I’d just gone through a breakup of a long-term relationship and getting together with you both was just what I needed. I have vivid memories of it being the first time in a long time that I actually laughed my ass off and was happy and silly. I think the dynamic between us 3 is jut absolute chaos, we’re all so different from each other, but it somehow works. And when we mean business, we mean business! We get shit done. And we did.
J Davies: Absolute chaos that night, as always, but we really conceived the idea of doing something together and birthed SMUT. I think after all the online censorship we faced and all of our banned Instagram accounts we needed a space to be able to share our work and ideas freely, without fear of online Instagram guidelines. This was when the planning really kicked into gear.
Karlo: I remember this is the night where we really started to solidify the idea of SMUT. We came up with the name on this night and we were genuinely so excited and determined to make this work for us. We had a hunger to be heard and noticed and create a platform to unabashedly share our work, whether it was photos, videos, writing, collage, etc. I remember feeling this overwhelming sense of like “I’ve found my people” like finally someone else understood how I was feeling in terms of artistic and sexual expression and the need to do it freely.
J Davies: This was our first time creating together after showing with SMUT. The first time we’d collaborated, just the two of us, since 2019. Our relationship had shifted and strengthened so much by this point and it’s really evident in the photographs. We both understood each other and trusted each other’s ideas and energies. It’s rare that I feel so at ease watching a close friend of mine jerk off while making direct eye contact with me. You’re clearly very comfortable expressing yourself here.
Karlo: This shoot means a lot to me actually, it was the first time we shot with me being single again, I remember I just needed to feel a sense of being comfortable and at peace with myself, feeling sexy, being sexual again. I think this was also the first shoot where I actually jerked off for the camera – that was fun! This also brings to mind the fact that you had started a Twitter account around that time and you posted some of these. You doing that was what pushed me to want to give Twitter and OnlyFans a try – every gay had one so I thought why not? However, I remember you mentioning you didn’t particularly like it as a tool to get your work out there, because it is so porn-centric, and I did understand where you were coming from. I had a fun time on Twitter and OnlyFans for a while, getting my hole out for the camera, but I found it a bit too much to handle. You do eventually become a piece of meat and people really seem to struggle with separating the content they see and you as a whole complete person. It wasn’t great for my mental health after a while.
J Davies: Chemistry is a really integral part of my practice when exploring and documenting intimate moments. Neither of us had met Matty before shoot day, I remember we shared ideas in a group chat and talked about comfort levels and consent. We met for some beers in the park across the road from your house and instantaneously felt at ease with each other. The two of us had worked together so many times that it just felt like second nature. There’s a real sophistication to this series that conveys our growth as collaborators and friends. Matty’s confidence really enabled us to dive straight in – the chemistry between the two of you also amplified the overall sexiness of the photos.
Karlo: I remember feeling a bit rusty since this was the first time I was going to be in front of the camera with someone else in quite a while. Matt and I had only chatted through Instagram but never met so I was definitely a bit nervous. However, I feel like our natural chemistry was through the roof, I really enjoyed myself that day and Matt already seemed so comfortable and willing to explore his sexuality in front of the camera. It all flowed so naturally and I have to say the 3 images we chose for this are absolutely beautiful. The natural lighting in my apartment that afternoon was gorgeous.
J Davies: I feel like this is my aim with my practice, capturing and sharing moments of queer intimacy, in a fully comfortable and safe environment. I love that we’ve been able to share this level of trust with each other through our different collaborations and I think this shoot really summarizes our relationship and the level of trust we share with each other. It felt important to us both to get one last photo moment in before your big move. This shoot solidified years of learning, growth, trust and love between us. I hope this won’t be the last time I take your photo x.
Karlo: I don’t have much to say about this shoot other than I was kind of horny that day and I knew it was going to be the last time we hung out together in a while so I kind of just did whatever I felt like, which is the epitome of how comfortable I feel with you to be myself in front of the camera. I made a mess of my bed with all that oil, my room stank of baby oil for days after it, thought it was so fun to just let go and basically pour a whole bottle of baby oil all over me, watch porn, masturbate. That picture of me on the bed with my shorts pulled down and looking back at the camera is probably one of my favorite pictures of me ever, I feel like it really captures some of my essence and personality – cheeky, flirty, horny… although sometimes a bit shy.
Photographs by: J Davies www.jay-davies.com / @jdavies.studio
Model: Karlo Martinez @karlomartinezg / karlomartinez.com
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