Dazed: The photographers redefining the erotic image for the 21st century

I always get so excited when my day job as a culture writer overlaps with my interest in erotica, kink and BDSM – and their visual representation. Very grateful to Dazed for commissioning me to write about the new wave of erotic photography.

 Guilty, I might have paid too much attention to the world of queer desire and kink because it resonates with me so much. But also the conversations about kink and the complex dirty strange sides of our sexuality feel very timely and very needed  – especially online, the space which is more and more hostile to the exploration of these themes. Fun fact, I met Lanee Bird at an afterparty of Berlin Porn Film Festival in 2018 – feel so stunned by her as a person and as an artist up to this day. Alexandra Kacha is an absolute sweetheart and a long-distance crush of mine. I once assisted Ottilie Landmark on a shoot when I had to throw a cake in the face of our dominatrix friend (yes, in a sexual way). But anyway, an extract from the piece below, the full text could be found here.  

Erotic images have always been a powerful part of artistic expression – but they also have an ambiguous history. Our society’s prevalent idea of the erotic is largely shaped by the white male gaze – from Renaissance paintings to covers of Playboy magazine. In the last few decades, erotic photography has both reinforced and challenged this history. The gay and queer perspective on sexuality has found its way into the art canon through the works of Robert Mapplethorpe and Catherine Opie, but a lot of names still remain much less known, including Ajamu X, or Doris Kloster. The history of the erotic imagery remains largely in the shadows, just as sex remains a topic which is taboo in our society. But the new generation of visual artists is keen to prove that documenting the erotic and the sexual is not only pleasurable but a vital part of our culture and creative expression.

For contemporary photographers and artists, working with erotic and sexual imagery poses its own challenges. In recent years, more and more mainstream social media platforms are becoming hostile towards nudity, sex work and even broader conversations involving sex – which also impacts artists, and especially queer, POC, and ones spotlighting diverse bodies. Despite the censorship, the visual language of the erotic photography is evolving to include more and more diverse perspectives. In this new world of radical erotic photography, the conventions of gender and power are flipped, the energy comes from authentic connection, kinks become a radical expression of freedom, and all kinds of bodies are given a safe space to truly shine. The work of these artists is playful, hot, authentic – and proves that sexual imagery can be about agency in expressing one’s desire.

Read the full article here. 

Images courtesy of Lanee Bird, Alexandra Kacha, Rub Magazine, Vera Violette, Amelia Sonsino, Ottilie Landmark.