Book Review: Tuck And Roll by J Houston

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Book Review: Tuck And Roll by J Houston

June 28th, 2024 by Walter Borghisani

Certain topics, in order to be addressed, need to be stripped of their exterior dimension. Humanized. Similarly, to immerse ourselves in J Houston’s book, we need to overcome the “patina” appearance of its cover, which replicates a white and shiny crocodile skin, to touch the rough reality of its pages.

“Tuck and Roll (v.)
The technique, almost always done while running, involves diving forward in such a way that your shoulder lands on the ground first, and you roll into a little ball. As you come out of the ball, immediately spring back up into a running stance, or move into a kneeling position.”

Tuck and Roll is a term that refers to contortions, including psychological ones, or sudden changes in trajectory. It is an effective metaphor to describe the mental acts often employed by some trans individuals to build their ideal world and fantasize in everyday life.

Aleem, 2018 © J Houston

Through portraits of individuals in transition, this project tells of identity and implicit stereotypes. To do this, to overcome the spectacularization to which trans photography is often subjected, J Houston chose to work away from the big American cities, focusing on the rural areas of western Pennsylvania, Michigan and the state of New York.

One of the key elements of this work is the choice of the large photographic format, which allowed the author to slow down and de-contextualize the subject of his shots from mainstream representations that are often made up of gossip and sensationalization. A distance that is not only aesthetic but has allowed the insertion, referring to the principles of magical realism, of fantastic elements aimed at cloaking everyday life in a sort of “true magic.”

“The idea of magical realism came much later than the start of the project, when it became clear to me that I was aiming to create a fantasy world (perhaps where trans people are always accepted as beautiful). I wanted to world-build this feeling, but without letting go of elements that root the work in the region or time it was shot. After reading a lot of magical realism when I was younger, I felt the juxtaposition had a kinship with the literary movement that came first.”

[J Houston]

Justice in yellow, 2020 © J Houston

In fact, each image in “Tuck and Roll” does not just represent a face or a place: it tells a story of struggle and survival in a narrative in which reality is evident but softened, toned down, and never sad. The slowness of the large format, the extended times of preparing the photographic sets, have favored the establishment of connections and deepened what, to all intents and purposes, is a reflection on trans existence in the American Midwest.

“I don’t believe any of us as photographers can really see those in our photographs objectively or without life bias. I definitely approached making the work by creating personal relationships with other queer and trans individuals through photographing them (often, several times) or photographing those from my personal life. Then, making the book was based around editing down this massive archive of portraits. So, making the images was almost entirely about my subjective relationships with those in them, and making the book was about wanting to share those images of us (sort of as a snapshot in time) for those outside the region or community to perceive.”

[J Houston]

Ella in our last summer, 2018 © J Houston

But what I find most important about this work, what I feel like focusing my attention on, is the fact that sexuality or sexualization of bodies in its various forms, even sexual appeal, disappears. It seems to lose its importance, to dissolve into normality. In doing that, it makes everything more clear and facilitates reflection on gender. Perhaps at the end of the somersault, there is no running or a kneeling position: perhaps, at the end of Tuck and Roll, there is a portrait in which to recognize oneself.

Tuck and Roll is printed and designed by Gost Books. One of its peculiarities is that the pages become progressively heavier. The book, in fact, is printed on four different weights of the same paper. This has the function of accompanying, according to J Houston’s idea, the growing density of images.