Most of the conversations with them are that they have never felt sexy in their disabled body and I've given them a visual representation of someone who owns their disabled body the way it is and is unapologetic. Once I send the images out into the world, the feedback I cherish the most is having other disabled people finding my work and re-evaluating how they view themselves. It all depends on chemistry, but either way we both get to share an experience of a lifetime, most of them never being with someone who has a physical disability, so that in and of itself is groundbreaking. Some of the time the other person is just a model there to do their job, and other times it is more sexual. Once we come up with a concept, I pretty much know visually what it's going to look like so I can explain it to the other person. Once I find someone who is interested, I meet with them either in person or through video chat, and we discuss our sexual tastes, what they feel comfortable doing in front of the camera, and just get a feel for each other. Sometimes people will come to me and others I will seek out. I scour dating apps and social media for potential models. After getting to the East Coast, people from New York, Boston, and a lot of my colleagues from school were very open to helping me create these images.
I did find a few of my friends to create some images, but the body of work as a whole started with my body. RAC: Before heading to the East Coast for school, I was in Michigan, which, to say the least, is extremely sexually conservative. What is the experience of the partners you have photographed? Do you have a particular conversation around exhibiting or publishing the images after you have made them? Because of the sexual nature of the photographs, I’m curious, in particular, what kinds of conversations took place before, during, and after photographing. JTD: Tell me about your process for involving other people in this work.
And it also evolved quite a bit from focusing on me as a disabled man and my body to becoming more about everything that encompasses me being able to have sex/intimacy.
So, I would say it came very organically. I also had to explore my body, and due to the lack of function, I was in need of sexual partners to help me explore. In rehab, the medical professionals shied away from the discussion about disability and sexuality, so I had to do all the research, scouring the internet for different pieces of the puzzle.
I photograph what I think is missing in mainstream media when it comes to disability and sex. After my spinal cord injury, I had to learn and balance all of these things, so after a few years I had quite a rolodex of inspiration for the concepts. RAC: CripFag is an exploration of my body, partners, friendships, fantasies, sex, caregiving, intimacy, fetishes, technology, access, romance, and more. How did this project come to be? Did you have a conceptual framework from the outset, or did it evolve more organically? JTD: As you write, your work “explores the intersections of being a disabled gay male in today’s society and sexual/intimate adventures.” Tell me about your project CripFag, which is comprised largely of self-portraits and images of you with your lovers/sexual partners.