These photos explore the ‘human, tender, gritty truths’ behind kink

Photographers have long been fascinated with the darker side of sexuality – from Robert Mapplethorpe to Catherine Opie to Bob Carlos Clarke, kink and fetish are part of the artistic canon. But if previously photographing BDSM or leather meant shining a light on parts of culture which were hidden and marginalised, today kink – or at least kink aesthetic – has reached the mainstream. From Pillion star Alexander Skarsgârd donning leather thigh-high boots in Cannes to Kylie Jenner confessing her love for latex dresses, it seems that everyone wants a piece of the subversive appeal.

But it doesn’t mean that the artistic quest for documenting kink is over. On the contrary, photographers pushing artistic boundaries around sexual subcultures have a harder task at hand: asking what makes a community, uncovering the playfulness beyond the mere shock factor and asking, what does it mean to have a truly dirty mind in times when kink has been sanitised? Matt Ford’s most recent exhibition VOYEUR2 brings together eight photographers who get into the human, tender, gritty truths behind latex and leather.

Based in London, Matt Ford is both a curator and a photographer, focusing on exploring queerness, drag, sexuality, and identity through portraiture, video and collaborations. In his work, sexuality is treated as something essential to who we are, to the joy of unbound self-expression and the very texture of life. Kink has been something Ford has been drawn to for a long time. “I keep returning to the kink community because I’m drawn to the raw, uninhibited personalities who push themselves outside what society expects. I find those subjects empowering,” he says. “Good kink or erotic art also pushes at what art is supposed to be. Some people write it off as just smut, but with the right intent, it becomes something so beautiful and personal.”

Ford admits that the surge of kink imagery in fashion, film and mainstream culture has been one of the reasons he was inspired to put together the show. “Most of it feels diluted,” he adds. “This exhibition looks past the surface to show the depth and full spectrum of what kink actually is.”

The artists on show offer a diverse view on sex and kink across different genders, sexualities and desires. Caitlin Damsell captures the bold aesthetic and subcultural charge of latex, while The Berlin Chameleon exposes the tenderness and intimacy between those sharing a latex fetish. Miss Gold offers candid and raw film photography focusing on women’s sexuality, taken both at BDSM scenes and One Night Parties, a kink night for women and non-binary people she runs. Joaquin Bielsa’s artistically refined black and white photography zooms in on the beauty and intensity of the gay fetish scene.  Lilith Vulgaris’s textured film photography puts latex in cinematic, dreamy landscapes. Tom Selmon focuses on the playful, the physical and the surreal in queer sex, while curator and writer Matt Scully contributed some instant photographs documenting erotic moments and connections.

VOYEUR2 offers not only a range of different points of view, but also a variety of formats. Many artists working with the erotic today favour analogue: zines, film and instant photography and physical objects. It is both a testament to the strong DIY culture the scene has always had, but also an escape from online censorship. People lean towards physical media as a space of artistic experimentation, but also knowing that it can withstand time and the rising conservatism (pay a visit to the UK Leather and Fetish archive for receipts). 

In erotic photography, a paradox between performance and deep emotional sincerity often comes to the fore. The exhibition‘s title also interrogates the role of the photographer: what does it mean to document something so embodied and vulnerable, as well as liberating? In VOYEUR2, photographers are looking for the inside, their perspectives filtered through their own personal stories and involvement in the kink communities. All the visual attributes of the culture – the chains, the leather, the rubber – are integral to it, but also serve as the way to capture intensity, softness and deep human connection. It is a delicate dance between what we know about the community and what only those inside it can truly know.

“A kink photograph – or any photograph – stands out when it reframes something we think we already understand,” Ford adds. “We’ve all seen the fully kitted-up gimp, but the right image makes you look again.”

VOYEUR2 runs December 12-14  at MF Studio London, book here.