Artwork: Jordan Hearns
Pirate radio, WBMX and pissing in the park: we sat down for a chat with the artist behind our July poster, London-based photographer and queer publishing icon Jordan Hearns.
Hi Jordan, how are you doing today?
Good, thanks! Just made a beautiful dinner, listening to a mix from DJ Richard and enjoying the evening sun. Very chill, for once.
Where are you from, and where are you based?
I’m from Portlaoise, in the middle of Ireland, and I’m based in London.
What were your first creative experiences, and how did you arrive at your current creative practice?
I grew up playing drums in a whole host of (really shit) bands - Indie-Rock bands, Southern Rock bands, wedding bands, session bands - you name it, I’ve probably played it. Through music, I got really into photography, namely through Punk and Hardcore zine culture, and I began shooting photos when I was 17 or so. I started going to raves/clubs at that age, and started trying to emulate a lot of the work I was really inspired by through photographing my immediate life - clubs, friends, locales, everything. My proximity to culture and subculture was nowhere near what I was inspired by, so I tried to make my own world somewhat interesting, but it didn’t really work, lol. Growing up in rural Ireland wasn’t the funnest experience, so music gave me the space to escape and investigate my identity and ideals. It taught me a lot about people, cultures, behaviours and allowances, if that makes sense. Music started everything for me - I am who I am because of it. I did all of those shite cover gigs and weddings for a reason, I swear!
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m working on some early drafts of my next photo book, hopefully coming late 2026. It’s a collection of works from 2021 to present, but I’ll speak more on that later.. in the interim, I’m slammed with all thiings SMUT Press, the print-publishing project I co-run with Jack Scollard. We’ve got another party in July, a few book fairs and an upcoming radio residency ahead of us, so the rest of the year looks really exciting. I’m also playing some gigs with my band F*SLUR over the next while. It’s been a mental year so far and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. I wouldn’t want it any other way!
What is your connection to electronic music? How is the scene where you are?
I got super into New York House and UKG when I was a teenager, DJing with friends and growing up analysing pirate radio rips on YouTube not really knowing what we were listening to. Dance music felt like Punk did - raw, bursting with energy and unapologetic. I was really influenced by the likes of TTT and smaller Irish labels like Wah Wah Wino and Major Problems - they really expanded my perception of what music could and (should) sound like. I went backwards, all the way back to listening to old WBMX rips and all of that early House shit that sounded like it was recorded through a tin can. I just wanted to hear and know everything. That desire has never let up, I dig and dig and research and take notes and all of that to this day. In London, the scene seems quite healthy currently. There’s a lot of really amazing stuff on, big and small. The parties we throw for SMUT have been really well received there’s also some really amazing nights run by friends like Club Are, Angel D'lite & Bethan's party 'Sugar', Aura Inc., HappyEndings, Uhaul Dyke Rescue, 2CPERREA, Tickle, Joyride.. there's so much going on, it's really great.
Music is the primary reference in everything I do. It’s the most integrated, investigated and realised interest of mine, so it bleeds into absolutely everything. Photographing places I go to dance, then making a zine of these works, launching it somewhere with someone soundtracking it… everything is intertwined. It all feels inherent to incorporate everything - books, photographs, music, etc. It works.
Are there themes that you would say frequently come through your work? If so, what are they, and why?
With my work, I investigate communal and domestic spaces as vessels for individualism and expression through the contexts of time, memory and impermanence. Common motifs range from underground clubbing spaces and their immediate communities, transient urban floral works, and romantic chronicles. There’s a sense of tenderness and underlying emotion present throughout my work. I rarely show an explicit depiction of something - I want and adore that sense of tension between knowing and yearning.
How free do you feel as an artist to take risks and go against the current trends and expectations of the industry?
Whilst it’s very important to know what’s going on around you, I don’t think I really pay attention to wider trends or expectations. I spent the vast majority of my time researching and archiving material, so I'm always looking backwards to move forwards. With SMUT, we’ve done everything basically on our own terms, in our own timeline, with our own money and our own initiative. That DIY mindset is integral to my practice and work, and if I was to abide by trends or whatever I wouldn’t be where I am now. It’s always better to be stage left than centre stage…!
How much of yourself do you put into what you do?
Originally I focused on documenting everything in front of me, but the last few years I’ve started turning the camera on myself and it’s been invigorating. How I present my work, the mediums I work within, etc are all reflections of me as a person.
Finally, can you tell us a bit about the artwork you made for us?
I made quite a big selection (sorry!) of mostly abstracted works, lots of florals, landscapes, skies and ephemeral city shots for the poster, with a handful of them featuring people. The image we chose features my best friend Conor taking a piss in a park in Berlin during my first trip there in 2019. We walked all over south-east Berlin that day, totally aimlessly. It was really great, feeling the energy of this new (to me at that time) city with someone I know so well.