Home Comforts
Han Conroy
Liv:
Han:
Home Comforts? That name’s been around since the beginning, hasn’t it?
I’m just, sort of, wondering in comparison to ‘Kerry’ do you feel like, in this project, you have taken on a character? Or was it more your deep routed self coming out on camera?
*laughter* Liv: Han: Yeah. I hate that you say ‘Home Comforts’ with a question mark….Home Comforts? Han: *laughter* Han: Yeah I think I remember when we were brainstorming ideas for a name and it was at the early stage of the project, looking at sort of, like, dogging and things like that. And thinking about how you compare outdoor sex and indoor sex and intimacy and how do they partner with loneliness? And then how do you find a name that, sort of, accompanies that?
And that was our first time properly working together as a creative duo, sort of, having no other influence. It was just you and me because of lockdown, having to kind of make that work. And then building that ‘Kerry’ character who was full of delusion. I think in that moment, I sort of realised that, as a model, you became a character on camera. Liv:
Well, yeah, obviously a lot of your imagery is surrounded around being inside even though a lot of your inspiration is from dogging culture and sex and loneliness with meeting up outside for a hook up.
Well, obviously, ‘Kerry’, was…well, I felt, was more of an acting performance that I inhabited this role of ‘Kerry’ because you gave her this role, this style and gave her a name. Whereas, this character, still has a story, but I feel the journey is so much different because it heightens the loneliness because, it’s like, who is this person? It’s very ominous because as much with ‘Kerry’, I am a person, I am named, people know me but with this project, I like how you have made it very loose and ambiguous and that is why so many of your images don’t really show my identity?
Han:
Han:
And then, I think, you know, starting at a point with dogging culture, you begin thinking about ideas of performance and that idea of an exhibition. You know, in the images, how do you perform to me but in some times you perform to others, and then sometimes it is almost as though you are just in this moment with yourself and I am just there watching as this voyeur.
Yeah, I think, again it is playing on these ideas of desire and obviously looking at sex in the project, it is sort of this idea of, are my images a deep routed visualisation of my own desires and I don’t even know it? And then, also, I’m providing this sense of desire to others to give you a purpose, give you a personality, make you a person. They, sort of, get to decide who this body is to them and who this person is to them. Because, I think, you are seeing much more of a figurative symbol for sex and for loneliness - as apposed to, like you said, with ‘Kerry’ it is such a solid character.
Liv:
Liv: Yeah and I think that really heightens the loneliness of it in every image, because obviously you are not overtly referencing loneliness but every image where this one character, like….me, is going round in different images, performing to one person, performing to another person. It really shows this idea of a kind of, like, delusion and loneliness because it is like what does this character really want and where is their mental state? And you have done quite a lot of that throughout your work.
Liv:
Han:
I think without telling people who you are, it gives them this whole-hearted freedom to explore who they think you are and how they see you in this book.
Yeah, I mean, as you know, we worked on the film series, one woman show, what was it? Six months ago now?
Definitely. Han:
HAN CONROY ‘HOME COMFORTS’ Creative Directtor - Han Conroy Photographic Assistant - Hayden Williams Designer - Adam Jones Styling - Han Conroy & Liv Burden Starring - Liv Burden Special Thanks: Liv Burden, Hayden Williams, Philip Scurrah & Amy Gwatkin Printed by Doxzoo 2021 © Han Conroy. All right reserved. Rreproduction in whole or in part without written permission strictly prohibited. All images are Copyright to Han Conroy unless specified. hanconroy.com