Toyin Ibidapo: Cult of Boys

Creating raw, honest images that document the authenticity of youth, photographer Toyin Ibidapo's latest book, Cult of Boys, is, in her own way, a diary of fleeting moments. Obsessed with capturing “windows of beauty” that are incredibly personal, she knows well that her eye is subjective, Toyin's book focuses mainly on young men with a sense of androgyny and shyness that is unique to adolescence. Although the book also features some women, she has shot many throughout her career, it was after being told by an art director that he preferred her images of women to men that Toyin began to shoot boys in an attempt to prove him wrong. Something that Cult of Boys does perfectly. The resulting collection of pictures brings together her community of people drawn from various sources, her own personal life, people she has spotted on the street and that she has been introduced to through her work. Throughout the book there is a connecting thread of simplicity, be it in the poses and locations, Toyin shoots almost entirely in her own home or against a grey wall, or through the personality of her subjects themselves. As she describes, her models are “not performers”. A tender and intimate diary, Cult of Boys take the viewer firmly into Toyin's world, closes the door to the outside and offers up an incredibly authentic version of beauty, just as she sees it.

Who is the most beautiful person you have met through the project?
There are several from the book, it's hard to pick one. I could say Finn, I could say Daniel, I could say Dominic, I could say Jeff. I could say this kid called Bill. Each of them have their own thing, but each gave me the same feeling, I can't say one person. It is different things in different people that make them beautiful to me. It's often a silent thing that they bring to you, they bring their presence which can be about the way they look but it can also be about their energy. For me I often like the shy people. Shyness brings secrets that you can never really unlock, that is very intriguing to someone like myself and I find that quite beautiful and inspiring.

"It's often a silent thing that they bring to you, they bring their presence which can be about the way they look but it can also be about their energy"

What does your photography teach you?
I don't know how to answer that. That I've got a good eye? I think it has taught me that each person who comes into your life can be brief but as a photographer you have an opportunity to document a passing moment forever. As I said in my book, beauty is fleeting, not everyone is going to remain beautiful. Some of us have a short window where others manage to hold onto their look and grow with it. What I have learnt actually is that some people sow you everything and some people show you nothing, and the people that show you nothing can in fact be showing you more.

Would you describe yourself as a romantic?
Yeah, maybe. Yes, why not. I would describe myself as a dreamer. I think dreaming is much, much better than reality. Sometimes I am dreaming in my photographs.

What does the word masculinity mean to you?
Maturity. It doesn't necessarily mean someone who is physically more masculine, to me it means strength.

The title of the book, Cult of Boys, suggests an almost obsessional notion. Is it an obsession for you?
It was, absolutely. The book was very much about me almost creating my top 100. Not someone else's, just mine. It is my vision, what I wanted to put out there. It is totally subjective and I know that not everyone has the same taste that I do, we are all different. For me through the collection of people, through the community that I brought together I suppose I felt I was creating a little cult. When you are doing something that doesn't really include the majority and you're representing a minority, when the thing gains momentum it becomes cultish.

What interests you about photographing men that doesn't interest you about photographing women?
It isn't that I don't enjoy photographing women. Some time ago somebody told me that I wasn't very good at photographing men and I took that quite personally, I took it as a challenge and I wanted to prove that I could do it. I didn't want to be told what I could and could not shoot. Also, the fashion word is a female dominated field and I did shoot a lot of girls that I loved shooting and have appeared in the book, but in a way they are the co-stars. I guess a lot of the men I photograph are quite androgynous, as are the girls, so in a way perhaps it is more about that androgyny.

Cult of Boys by Toyin Ibidapo is published by teNeues.

Text by William Oliver