We didn’t invent the world we live in. It has been invented several times in several ways, forged by countless generations before us. Perhaps we can’t invent it as such, but we can influence the ways of the world so that they take “the right direction”, if we look at what was done in the past, if we are aware of where we have come from, and if we persevere. Levi Jackman’s rather unorthodox past led him to rethink the way he sees things, to fight (sometimes even with himself) for his beliefs and for who he is. He left the Mormon Church when he came out, and used his experience and his past to bring new influences to photography. The subjects he is working on right now (seeking legitimacy on social media, attracting followers, self-acceptance, etc.) give food for thought and are pleasing to see. Among other personal commitments, such as those for the SAGE association (Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders), an association to defend the interests of senior citizens in the LGBT community, Levi gives his own projects everything he’s got. He intellectualizes our behaviors without being tedious or boring. Perhaps it’s this gift that makes him the artist he is. In this interview with the young man from the Big Apple, we talk about him, not the past, to try and gain a better understanding of the workings of such an extraordinary mind. Someone had to start soul-searching and Levi Jackman rose to the challenge. The therapy starts here.

Describe yourself in three words.

Curious, unrefined, serendipitous.

What’s a typical day in the life of
Levi Jackman?

I start most mornings listening to news podcasts while meticulously taming my bedhead hair into what is an inevitably doomed attempt at a finished “look”. Once I reach optimal dissatisfaction, I mess my fingers through it and start my day. Next, I make an oat milk (because I’m tragically American) cappuccino and either head to working on set for Gordon Von Steiner (typically abroad) or, if I’m home in New York City, I ferociously consume news / internet trend podcasts while brainstorming aesthetic ideas that could influence my next body of work. I sketch installation ideas, inevitably get distracted by dust, clean for 3 hours, and then become consumed by some sadly accurate meme I find on Instagram that through a picture and one liner describes the American dystopian political experience. I contemplate if memes are some evolved form of Impressionism; again I am distracted by a chiseled man working out on Instagram and decide I must go to the gym immediately. At the gym I am taken by the window light shining onto a mirror and reflecting on a towel resting on a blue matt. I photograph it and immediately feel I've captured something extraordinary. Simple but an honest modern gay still-life. I post it on Instagram. Only my fiancé’s mother likes it. On weekdays my fiancé comes home from the hospital (I love to brag that he’s a brilliant surgeon) around 18:00 and we make dinner together and discuss how the world is simultaneously falling apart and potentially going to rebirth itself as something interesting. On weekends we either go dancing or watch entire seasons of tv shows in one sitting.

Is there a golden thread in your work?

The utility of photography, digitally, physically, emotionally in our present day.

You are very involved in raising awareness about social media and our relationship with technology, why so?

I’m fascinated by our relationship to social media and the influence it has on human behavior. My life is very different for better or worse from my utilization of social media and I think I have a responsibility to learn how and why.

[…]

Read the full interview, and see works from Subjectivity — a body of work by Levi Jackman — in Sacrebleu! 7. Order your copy by clicking here.



photographs/collages of LEVI JACKMAN by BEN FOURMI

text CYRIL VINCHON

interview TANIA MICHALIK