Backscratch (Joshua Jacob) // 2024 💻🤝🌁 - This is Joshua, a portrait from my series, “Of masked/omitted devices.” It is an encounter born from the digital ether of queer chatrooms and dating apps, a moment of physical connection captured from a virtual search. Its composition is a mix of sweat, shade, and the shared intimacy framed by the concrete underside of a river bridge. It is a portrait not of a constructed profile, but of the vulnerable, human body that exists just beyond the screen. - But this piece is more than just a document of a meeting; it is an inquiry into digital intimacy. It personifies the ambiguous line between the online persona and the offline person. Photography, in this vein, becomes the critical bridge—a medium that both facilitates and critiques the very platforms where this connection began. It confronts the moment of translation itself: the disembodied texts, the shared location pins, and the tangible presence of another person in a space defined by fleeti...