Photographer Jo Broughton is revealing the stiller side of the porn industry with her work Empty Porn Sets, which was recently featured at the London Art Fair.
Broughton began work as a photography assistant and porn-set cleaner in her youth, through unconventional circumstances. After leaving home at a young age she applied for a job as a photography assistant through Thurrock College and ended up finding a vocation, mentorship, a place to live and inspiration for what would become one of her most striking photographic works.
Broughton started taking these photographs in 2001. Now, fifteen years later, her work is gaining international recognition and is featured as part of the London Art Fair’s guest-curated exhibition Feminine Masculine, which showcases photographic works at the cutting edge of contemporary photographic practice.
On her website, Broughton speaks about her experience working as a porn set cleaner.
“This studio has been the only home I have ever known—a place of safety, sanctuary, warmth and most importantly acceptance.”
“At times I struggled with what went on in the space, about the objectification of women… I hid my association with the porn industry like a guilty secret but without it I may not have been able to realise my ambitions. To this day I cannot say I am comfortable with the porn industry, but I do now realise that there are two sides to every coin, light and dark.”
“As a cleaner I saw the sets in the cold light of day and picking up and cleaning the mess was a bit like being in a crime scene. Dealing with the inevitable bodily fluids made me feel my own humanity and then the vulnerability of the models that had performed for the camera that day. In the end, though, I was learning my craft, trying to understand light and how to photograph really well.”
The photographs are vibrant with colour yet eerily still, with lighting set-ups near the edges that reveal the charade.
All images © Jo Broughton.
