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Ferry Van Der Nat started out working as a chef, but later changed direction and became a professional make-up artist and stylist, working for magazines like L’Official and Dutch Vogue, as well as the designers Viktor & Rolf. He is currently based in Amsterdam.
His images for Mr Polaroid were shot on two cameras: the 1965 Land Camera 103 (which sheds a greenish blue tint across prints), and the Big Shot from 1975. Mr. Polaroid is Ferry’s first solo exhibition and was shown in Amsterdam earlier this year, and as a result of the interest it has sparked in Ferry’s work, the exhibition moved to Paris in June this year.
Ferry jokingly claims that Mr Polaroid is his silent protest against the current trend for men to remove all traces of body hair and says that he loves the, ‘Aesthetic of the masculine body and the power which comes across (in these photos), and I really enjoy body hair when it grows in interesting shapes; the little golden hairs on a man’s body are very erotic.’
To accompany his printed photographic essay in our launch issue, we caught up with Ferry to have a quick chat about his work:
What was the initial inspiration, or what sparked the idea, for Mr Polaroid?
The real spark happened when I noticed that most male models shave their body hair due to the wishes of girlfriends or even mates in the gym. I could see that the hair would grow to be really beautiful and masculine. It seemed almost alien that us men are now shaving it all off, so I decided to start shooting natural men as a little side project, and my own tongue-in-cheek silent protest.
What is it that you are exploring with Mr Polaroid?
I just like to keep things simple and clear. In my photography I am exploring the male form, and how society wishes to view the male form. Over time what is considered masculine, or the acceptable form of masculinity, has shifted. I am very curious to see how this will develop in the future.
It seems that male nudity has, in the recent past, been stigmatized, and categorized as gay in a strange way. In ancient history you see examples of naked men everywhere in cities, and statues showing off and celebrating male masculinity and power were commonplace.
We are used to seeing images of naked women all the time and men need to stand up and show us their beautiful bodies too!
Do you think that the scarcity of high-quality erotic images of men is partly the consequence of the fact that there is so little out there, and simply not enough to provoke a greater demand (in the way that has been the case with images of women)?
Yes, exactly. To me this is weird, what happened? I do think that things are shifting though, boys and men are not scared anymore to reveal themselves on social media to get attention, so mainstream media is changing rapidly as well. At this point in time, erotica is the new black!
Visit Ferry’s Tumblr page, Mr. Polaroid here.