Brisbane isn’t sexy. We’ve heard it a million times.
It’s the city of early bedtimes and sensible hobbies. But behind our overgrown-country-town facade lies people doing their part to make our city a little bit sexier.
If you’re up on the news, you’ve seen the steamy, viral portraits of investigative journalist and sex worker Bension Siebert. Those images laced with 70s heartthrob-ness were shot by a man who wouldn’t dream of calling anywhere else other than Brisbane home.
Joel Devereux is on a mission to make Queensland a touch more gay and a whole lot more provocative. After a hiatus that left the city’s thirst-levels unmanaged, Joel is back with a second renaissance.
His latest series The New DVRX is raw, sun-drenched, scantily-clad and oh so Australian. Joel is reimagining his digital art nude magazine series featuring amateur to professional models, with Bension Siebert appearing as Issue #14’s model.
I’m also told you’ll recognise some of the other cheeky models from the Brisbane scene 😉
I sat down with Joel to discuss this viral shoot and what else he has in-store for us with the rest of The New DVRX.
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Ben: We have all seen the shoot in some way. Can you tell me about the Bension Siebert shoot? How did that come to be and how did it go?
Joel: We connected on Instagram a few months ago. Bension mentioned he was an investigative journalist who was about to come out as a sex worker. We wanted to build it around him going from the investigative journalist into the typical The New DVRX format of getting more nude as we go.
He’d shot with another friend of mine in Melbourne prior to this, but this was his first full, proper art nude shoot. We got on really well. We shot it in July, but we had to hold off on the release to go with the article being published. Thank God we did, because the Cheek Media article went viral. Which is amazing for him. Bension has mentioned having the craziest two weeks of his life, and I felt it too. The photos have popped up in a bunch of different places, like the cover of The Advocate, and I’m getting people purchasing the series from all over the world in different currencies. It’s been a really lovely way to showcase what I do. It’s not too wild or gratuitous; it just has a nice vibe to it.
Ben: Because his professional brand is objectivity and news, did you use that in the storytelling of the shoot?
Joel: We definitely incorporated parts of his career into it, which was a fun thing to do because people usually want to keep this kind of work quite separate from their day life. It was nice for him to be a subject for once, I was investigating him with my camera.
He raised a really good point the other day about being treated differently in the arts because you have done sex work or erotic work. I’ve experienced that myself, being ostracised because of my work and people not understanding it. You’d think the arts would be wonderful and really gay and happy, but that’s not always the case. There is this stigma that bridges the gap between being serious at your job and being serious at your other job. It’s important to pull focus to that, because this is just between consenting adults.
Ben: Do you have people who participate in shoots for a sexual thrill?
Joel: I’ve definitely been booked for photo shoots where people think it’s a lot more sexual than it is. I’ve had people approach me asking, “Are you naked as well?” and I have to say, “No, this is my full-time job.”
You are selling a fantasy. I relate to escorts and almost like massage therapists in that way. You’re selling an idea of something people enjoy and receive a thrill from, but at the end of the day, you’re there to do your job. I’m big on our jobs being considered real. Sex work is real! I’m mindful of teetering that line between selling the fantasy and the reality of being a professional photographer. I behave the same way on a headshot shoot as I do for an art nude one.
Ben: You feature people in harnesses and jockstraps, and there’s a huge market now with OnlyFans. How do you approach the work to keep it feeling artistic and intentional?
Joel: I’ve always been drawn to artwork. I have zero interest in generic OnlyFans content. I have zero interest in filming two twinks have anal sex—it’s just not on my radar. I love still imagery. I worship photographers like David LaChapelle and Robert Mapplethorpe.
A lot of my other contemporaries have gravitated towards full OnlyFans videos and that kind of sex work, but I have no interest in it. I’m not a videographer. I find more value in big, beautiful imagery and lovely art nudes. I love big black-and-white; I’m quite classic with it at the moment.
Ben: Now, this Bension shoot is a part of The New DVRX , where did this new series come from?
Joel: I’m coming into more of a second renaissance vibe. The first time I freelanced, I quit my job in 2016 and started the first DVRX series in 2017. Then I took a break from freelance, I was fully burnt out towards the end of 2023 and I went into full time work, which was nice to have a regular income.
And then I got itchy feet to go back into freelancing. And now, I kept thinking about wanting to do another project. My notes app is just full of projects. I realised I was overthinking it big time. I had conceptualised this for so long, so I continued the series.
I’m being a bit more honed in now. I definitely have a lot less energy than when I first started—I’m really tired all the time! I’m not travelling every two weeks like I was before. So I’m just being in Brisbane, doing my little series, and taking clients here. It’s a nice thing to be focusing on.
Ben: Do you think there’s a specific Brisbane aesthetic to queer eroticism? How do Brisbane people want to be photographed nude?
Joel: I mean… I am trying to build it in a way. It is very different to Melbourne’s brand of queer eroticism. Going into this new series, I was sick of cosplaying the “Americana” of it all. I’m sick of seeing models with blank stares in gridiron outfits. We don’t play that. It feels like a cosplay.
We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. We’ve got unique nature and such beautiful beaches. Why aren’t we capitalising on that? We should be showcasing what we’ve got. The New DVRX is very “Australiana,” for lack of a better term. I think we want to be in the sun. Like, it’s Queensland, we’re in the pool in winter.
Further south, it’s a lot of film photography with white socks in the air in a little Melbourne townhouse. Love all that, but we just don’t have that environment. It’s a limitation, but it’s also our strength. We need to lean into being a bit “Queenslandy” with it.
Ben: Nude photography requires a lot of trust. How do you build those relationships on a shoot?
Joel: Photography is a people job. If you can’t make someone feel comfortable on camera, throw your camera away. People forget that part of the industry. I love people, and I’ve been quite good at making them feel comfortable. I make it fun; it shouldn’t be stale and stoic.
I say “character and conviction over chisel” for this series. Everyone is like, “Oh, I don’t look a certain way,” but this is not about that. You can be the most muscular person in the world and still not be right for the shoot. You have to bring character.
I want it to be fun, and I’m kind of documenting the fun of a shoot. I am talking to my model the whole time. You’ll see in the work, like people laughing and they don’t shy away when I shoot it. It’s just cheeky and fun.
Ben: Is nude photography as vulnerable as people make it out to be?
Joel: I hate using the “E-word” – empowering. People say that in burlesque a lot, but I don’t know if I’d call it vulnerable, either. When you live in the queer bubble, no, it’s not vulnerable at all because everyone is down for whatever.
But when you step out of that bubble, you realise we are still very, very coy around sexuality in public. We’re actually moving back to a kind of neo-conservatism. Stepping out into more conservative circles, you realise how close-minded people still are about adult content. In those circles, the work still has a gravity and a stigma that it doesn’t have in our world.
Ben: You’ve mentioned you come from the school of “Entertainment vs. Art.” Why do you lean into the entertainment side?
Joel: I hate “art wank.” I hate wankiness around art and it being exclusive to people. I want to be invitational. I’ve been an “entertainment photographer,” and I want my work to be entertaining rather than being moody and arty for the sake of being art.
I think the art is in the fun because it’s genuine. I hate art that you can tell thinks it’s smarter than you. Just because something is financially viable doesn’t mean it’s not artful. Entertainment and art can coexist.
Ben: Finally, for people new to Brisbane, where are you telling them to look for their queer community?
Joel: I have to plug Emerald City Kickball. It’s been absolutely amazing. It’s a nice alternative queer scene that isn’t nightlife-focused, which I think is important. In Brisbane, we’re very lucky to have a strong day life scene. We can go out in the day because it’s so beautiful and sunny.
Our regular Friday, Saturday, Sunday going-out culture is kind of disappearing – we don’t have Fluffy on a Sunday anymore. But in lieu of that, we have some really good early night weird events and queer run clubs. What is that stat? Brisbane is the earliest city to bed in the world and the earliest to rise, and our city is really reflecting that. Love nightlife – support your bars – but day life is really taking off at the moment.
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Joel Devereux’s latest DVRX volumes are available now. If you’re feeling brave enough to be his next subject, you can apply for a collaboration at joeldevereux.com.
