Rob Munday

Hook-up apps have become a staple of modern storytelling, their instantaneous connection to a potential partner often used as a metaphor for the way in which technology has made our lives more convenient, while also stripping away some of the face-to-face interaction of every day life. In James Cooper’s simple but surprisingly effective short doc Drawings of My BF the hook-up app isn’t just a lazy plot device used to convey a hackneyed message, but actually had a real-life impact, as it brought artist Wilfrid Wood and his muse Theo Adamson together. Hundreds of drawings later, the couple are still going strong.

An ode to simplicity, Cooper presents the couple’s unique relationship through a pared back aesthetic that puts the focus on Wood and Adamson and their intimate bond. Having first met on a gay hook-up app, where the artist was looking for models to sketch, throughout the film’s seven-minute duration we’re allowed a glimpse into their private lives and the role that art has played in bringing them together.

Artist Wilfrid Wood sits drawing his muse, Theo Adamson.

Opening with some handheld, home-video style footage (an approach that’s repeated throughout the film), before cutting to a shot of Wood sketching in a garden, it’s clear from the start that intimacy is not only a key theme in Drawings of My BF, it’s the endearing quality that sticks with you after watching the short. Spending time in the company of Wood and Adamson is infectious, you smile at their little jokes and generally feel at ease around them. There doesn’t appear to be any pretence here, the pair look comfortable in front of the camera and again this relaxed feel only works to amplify the intimate qualities of the short.

Though Wood recalls how a friend commented on the “ugly” nature of his drawings of Adamson (something the artist saw as “quite the compliment”), this certainly isn’t a description you’d level at Cooper’s film. If anything you’d say it’s quite the opposite, a beautiful film full of warmth and ultimately, this is what drew me to Drawings of My BF. At a time when things have been somewhat of a struggle, we all need a reminder of the importance of human connection and the joy that comes with having someone (family, friend or lover) to share life with and Cooper’s film provides just that.

Having played Sheffield DocFest and Queer Lisboa in 2021, Cooper’s film was released a New York Times Ops Doc later that year.