Photographer Brian James Spies and model Jessica Frey teamed up for today’s exclusive NAKID feature editorial titled, ‘The Cross Of Confusion‘.
Brian is a non binary (they/them) film photographer based in rural North-central Pennsylvania, an area described as being part of the Pennsylvania Wilds. They manage a nonprofit black and white film darkroom and make work focused on identity as performance. Today’s series, made in collaboration with their muse and regular model Jessica Frey, grew out of a government packet on the occult from the 1990s that they found on the official US Government Department of Justice website. Using its Satanic Panic framework and both their and Jess’s own past experiences with the occult as an opportunity to explore how certain imagery and tropes engage in a performance of menace that when looked at critically is much richer than the cartoonish notion portrayed as part of the Satanic Panic movement of their childhood. These photographs, which are all shot on 120mm film but for A Prisoner of the Lord and Blooded, which were shot on 8×10 and 4×5 film respectively, were developed and printed by Brian on Ilford 300 Art Paper in their Darkroom using traditional silver processes.
If you love this visual story then show them some love, this is just a glimpse of the amazing stuff they have created – head over to their Instagram below to check out more from this awesome artist and support their creativity and your daily inspiration by following them!
Check out more of Brian James Spies and their work here: INSTAGRAM / WEBSITE
