We were immediately mesmerised by Prins de Vos' photos and art. They were the photographer during our Queer Pride Night back in July (2023) and captured the night in such a magnificent, personal and beautiful way. We wanted to shine more light on Prins' work, so we asked them if we could interview them for this series of the Erotic Art Gallery. Step into the world of the super sensitive, vulnerable eye Prins has.
This is the Erotic Art Gallery of — Prins de Vos.
Prins is a queer agender visual artist from Amsterdam. Their work focuses on themes such as intimacy, identity and sexuality. Last year their second photo book BOYS DO CRY got published. For the book I took photos of their friend Levi for seven years. During the Pride Photo exhibition of 2022, one of the photos, on which Levi is portrayed naked, caused a lot of fuss. Levi and Prins received tons of hatred, especially from men. The photo got vandalised over and over again. The question that crossed Prins' mind was if those men would have also been this mad if a photo of a naked cis woman was shown in the exhibition. The transphobia that came to light during Pride Photo showed us how much remains to be gained when it comes to the emancipation of trans people. Prins hopes their work helps a little in that regard.
Right now Prins working on a photo series about the queer scene of Amsterdam for Stadsarchief Amsterdam. They feel honored that their plan was chosen out of many and believes that our work (with “our” they mean: (queer) people who work on queer emancipation) seems to be paying off.
From an early age I knew that my sexuality and gender differed from the people around. During high school, I’ve always been seen as “the weird one”. Looking back, I can proudly say that I wasn’t weird. I just wasn’t a cis straight person. Fortunately at the rather young age of fourteen I found a group of queer friends, even though by that age we weren’t familiar with the word “queer”. We were just like a juicy soap series: everyone dated with everyone and it caused a lot of drama and sadness, but it also was a source of love, excitement and queer joy. My first lover (we were together for three years) is still a close friend of mine, after sixteen years. (If that isn’t queer I don’t know what is!)
When I became interested in photography and film, I just intuitively knew I had to portray the people around me. They inspired me more than anything. I wanted to tell our story, show our queerness to the world and let people know that we exist. So, for my first photo series Enclose, which I started in 2012, I took hundreds of photos of me and my boyfriend. We split up after a few years but guess what: we’re still friends.
To be honest I don’t really care about the setting, as long as it is with someone (or more than one person) that senses me. I always fall for people who are soft, caring, polite and sensitive. So as long as that’s the case, the setting can be as rough as a concrete floor with a thin sleeping pad (been there…).
Recently I got diagnosed with autism, which clarified to me why I’ve always found it so hard to stay true to myself and really sense what my needs are. I tend to feel disconnected from my feelings, which makes it hard to take the space and time I really need. When I was about 25, I experienced something that I now, in retrospect, can label as an autism burnout. I couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t eat. I didn’t feel anything at all. So after my diagnosis I promised to myself to really try to listen to my needs and prioritize them as I’ve never done before. For now, that means that I’m trying to start ánd end everyday with reading (and cuddling with my lover) in bed. This gives me the energy to keep going during the day.
