by Mimi Krumholz
"Diving," by Robbie Acklen
The artwork of Robbie Acklen, Pitzer College sophomore, has recently become an international commodity. This past July, he submitted one if his photographs to GFest – gayWise LGBT Arts Festival in London and a few weeks later he was notified that his piece was one of 20 chosen to be in the visual arts exhibition show which began October 26th. The selection committee expected Robbie to attend the opening of the Visual Arts Exhibition, where he could meet the curator and the other artists involved. Not only was this Robbie’s first art exhibition outside of academia, but it also commemorated his first piece ever sold, for $800 no less.
“I didn’t expect my piece to sell,” Acklen said, “but it made the entire experience that much more amazing.” GFest is held annually and is funded by donations, which are used to support LGBT artists in need.
“The openness was really great,” Robbie said of the exhibit’s setting, “it was the first time that I had been in a gay setting with my mom. I was really pleased by how receptive my mother and sister were to the whole situation. They were very proud.”
Although he hopes to have his work further exhibited, photography was not always Robbie’s primary aspiration. At one point he had hoped to study theater, but as he matured, he found that his speech impediment would get in the way of his recitations and that it would be difficult to continue down that path.
“I loved performing but the conflict of my speech impediment was discouraging me from continuing down a road so heavily based on vocal projection.”
As a compromise, he started experimenting with staged photos of himself. “Because I can’t perform on stage, I choose to perform in my images.”
Out of the frame, Robbie still finds a way to put on a show. He spent his summer working as a go-go dancer in New York City to gain inspiration. Many components of erotic dancing are influential to Robbie: the body, the lights, and the objectification of the subject are all things that Robbie feels have taken his images to a new level.
Acklen said, “Self portraits are difficult because you have to visualize everything,” but instruction from behind the lens is also difficult. “Having been objectified while dancing this past summer, I now have a broader perspective that allows me to empathize with my subjects and, hopefully, this connection will strengthen the impact of my photographs.” His newly gained skills definitely show in his pictures.
Each of Robbie’s photographs reference a strong mood. Robbie’s pictures are self-assessed to be successful once he has found “the beautiful light”. This is actually trickier than it sounds because there is not only one kind of beautiful light, “it’s whatever light sets the intended mood for the photo”. When his camera is in hand he will use whatever light source is around to get the picture he wants, even resorting to the light expelled from his laptop. “For me, taking photographs is about the experience of taking a photograph. The act of photographing and the performance of the photographer make it special to me as well.” I experienced this thought process in action during my drive up to Berkeley for fall break. Robbie looked out of the driver’s window and his hand immediately shot to the back seat for his camera bag like a magnet. I was instructed to take the wheel while he turned on his camera and snapped photos of the setting sun. “I want people to see how I see things,” Robbie says about his pictorial intentions, “sometimes I can’t say the words, I just have my photographs.”