Sexy, homoerotic photos from a hot New Zealand summer

Sexy, homoerotic photos from a hot New Zealand summer

The photography of Rob Tennent

Essay by Georgie Wright for i-D Vice

21 October 2021

Purchase Rob Tennant’s book I'm Going to Miss You here

Rob Tennent, from I'm Going to Miss You

Summer in New Zealand can be a special kind of magic. The days of long ocean swims, covered in sand and sea salt and fingers dripping with fish and chip grease. It's a feeling that fuels Rob Tennent's latest book, I'm Going to Miss You -- a tribute to this season, but also the beautiful boys that embody this feeling. Inside, young men make out with ice cream and each other. Friends hang off sharp rocks and shoulders. They're photos that make you want to run down sandy dunes with very few clothes on.

"I wanted to capture a whole range of different relationships we have with men," Rob says of the images. "Being queer, I wanted to explore that in my work, boys cuddling and kissing. If I saw that as a young kid, it would've helped normalise a whole bunch of things that I grew up thinking were wrong." The photos are a rebuke of the 'no homo' phrase bandied about at Rob's boarding school -- and groups of insecure men worldwide -- before guys dared touch one another. "It's like, why do we have to say that before we hug our friends?"

Read full essay on i-D Vice


 

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