Benjamin Dawkins

Ben completed a BA in Art History in 2020 at Kent with First Class Honours, and was then awarded the University’s Templeman Scholarship to study a Master’s in Film, graduating in 2021 with a Distinction. Having worked for 21 years before returning to education, he is also a keen advocate for mature and part-time students.

Ben is an experienced photographer and darkroom user. Interested in architectural, travel and street photography, he usually works with 35mm and medium format film cameras, and primarily in monochrome. He also holds a Licentiateship with the Royal Photographic Society.

Ben’s primary interests are situated within modern and contemporary art, and the history of photography. Further study interests include abstract and monochrome painting, film theory, French cinema, fashion photography, plus Art Deco art and design.

Thesis title and description

Working title: The Queer Male Gaze: In Covert Painting and Photography, 1860s to 1930s.

With the emergence of Realism and Impressionism in European art history from the 1850s, artists enjoyed a new freedom to depict scenes of everyday life and subject matter beyond that of traditional biblical and historical scenes. The opportunity to freely paint or photograph images of an appeal to a homosexual male audience however, did not occur until around the 1940s. Ben’s research therefore, focuses on two main aspects which concern the queer male gaze in art history during this period. The first is to explore how that gaze differs from, or challenges, the traditional male gaze; and includes defining which elements contribute to the form of appeal for a homosexual male audience. A visual code, as it were. The second aspect explores the secondary readings apparent in a variety of European painting and photography of the 1860s to 1930s with an appeal for that audience, which have often been overlooked or disregarded until now.

Ben's thesis is supervised by Dr Jonathan Friday and Dr Ben Thomas.