Cameron McNeeTompkins, 2019 Each summer, the polished concrete corner of New York’s Tompkins Square Park draws a nebulous community of skaters. Attracted to the smooth surface and collection of city debris, the space becomes the home for intimate friendships, shirtless youth and battered sneakers. This image is part of a four year project documenting this space. Cameron came of age in an Australian beach town, but his passion was after sunset, documenting his found family in fringe LGBTQ+ nightclubs. Inspired by the work of Nan Goldin and Larry Clark, he would shoot countless rolls of film and endless hours of videotape of his posse of dancers and drag performers. This series earned him a place to study at London College of Printing, and led him to build a life between East London and the East Village, NYC. His work returns regularly to the theme of community, drawn to stories where otherness and kinship intersect, mirroring his own life experience of feeling like an outsider, until he found his tribe. He says, “The greatest gift is to find your clan, those that celebrate you and your uniqueness.” His desire to understand the experience of others drew him to studies during the pandemic in psychotherapy and counseling. This has impacted his image making by approaching each project with the desire to never just take from his sitters, but to listen with empathy and understand what they need, enabling them to share their authentic self. Through mentoring and employing the next generation of creatives, Cameron strives to make each project, job and team reflect his values, by representing a diverse collaboration of gender, culture, color and sexuality.
