BNFOTD.

My project, photography of film stills, “BNFOTD” (benefits of the doubt), is inspired by the aesthetic and underlying marginalised messages of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films such as Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady and Syndromes, and a Century. Employing Cindy Sherman’s method from her ‘Untitled Film Stills’ series, my project explores stereotypes in relationships, intimacy, and LGBTQ+ representations, reflecting my personal journey of sexual identification.

It started from LGBTQ+ representations that have been limited and misrepresented in films and media, which affects the real-life images of LGBTQ+ to be stereotyped. These stereotypes cause many to quickly judge the community without understanding that sexuality is diverse and complex and that states in relationships may range from romantic, platonic, sexual and everything in between and beyond.

This project aims to explore boundaries and ambiguities between states of relationships when or where one status started and the other ended. It represents the many dimensions of the diversity of sexuality, identity, and relationship, personally and collectively.

My film stills utilised self-portrait techniques through the self-timer on my DSLR camera. Closed captions were put on each photo mimicking the element of cinema and providing a hint to the audience of my underlying personal feelings.