A special sort of carnal energy is created when there’s a woman behind the lens in erotic photography. These are 6 female artists who have explored subversive ideas of sex and the female gaze through photography.
Nathalie Daoust – Tokyo Love Story
‘My goal is to use my camera to open a world I normally would not have access to, a place of curious self-expression, but also a place of new relationships, new chances, new beginnings and most importantly new stories. I seek the unknown and I look for the light within the shadows, the stories that are not at first obvious and the uncommon in the common. I photograph people in their environments because I am curious of what lies behind their eyes, where they have been and where they hope to go.’
For Tokyo Love Story, Nathalie Doust was granted to spend several months in the Alpha Inn, one of one of the largest S&M love hotels in Japan. The girls in the Alpha Inn provide services to an elite clientele. Daoust steered clear of sensationlism or voyeurism, choosing to photograph 39 dominatrices in their private rooms, when they they were alone with no clients around.
Aneta Bartos – Boys
‘After few years of shooting fashion, I started to feel limited in my artistic expression. I wanted to have the freedom and experience more intimate and personal reflections without any boundaries. Voyeurism in my work falls much deeper than its principal characteristic. I am rather exploring myself through others in a hope to experience and learn something new.‘
Originally from Poland and having moved to NYC at age 16 unable to speak any English, Aneta Bartos started taking photography classes in a local high school before getting into the fashion industry. Having fallen back in love with photography, ‘Boys’ is one of Barto’s most popular series. It captures lone men masturbating in hotel rooms. Inspired by the notion of the female gaze, Bartos wanted to be a woman taking erotic photos of men, with a specific intention to ‘challenge what is visually and expressively accepted as beauty in male condition, especially when the sexuality is owned by a female perspective.’
Amanda Charchian – Pheromone Hotbox
Pheromone Hotbox is a term created by Amanda Charchian to describe the specific energy created when a woman photographs another woman. Charchian explains it as: ‘a space in which a biologically confounded process occurs, as our pheromones interact (in a nonsexual way) to generate creativity through both trust and mischievousness…I discovered that through the camera I had unique access to the creative women around me. This newfound mode of intimate photographic investigation grew into a project in its own right.‘
Being one of Charchian’s most successful series, Pheromone Hotbox captures women, undressing or nude, in dramatic spaces all over the world, from Costa Rica to Iceland and everywhere in between. One rule was that each model had to be photographed in a setting that was unfamiliar to them. The series undoubtably highlights Charchian’s sense of trust when a woman photographs another woman, with each photo providing eroticism with a sense of true comfort and intimacy.
Leah Schrager – Infinity Selfie
‘When I put sexy selfies in the art context, [people are] suddenly like, ‘But no, that can’t be!’ It’s very platform specific also. When I put some of my sexy photos on Facebook that was a serious disaster. But I put them on Instagram and they’re loved. But I would not be doing sexy selfies except that I found that if I put them in the art context, they’re an instigator of discussion – sometimes great, sometimes not. So that’s a big part of why I like the sexy images in my art and what’s driven me to do it more and more; I realize there’s something unresolved within the art context about sexy images.’
Living ‘between the internet, NYC and the Sonoran Desert, Leah Schrager is a contemporary artist who explores digital identity, celebrity culture, the selfie and the highs and lows of being a sexually confident woman. She plays with different identities such as ‘Ona’ her Instagram cam-girl alter ego, and ‘Sarah White’ (The Naked Therapist). She is the model, photographer, artist, and marketer in/of her images.
Another World – Shae Detar
‘When I turned 30 and I started taking photos I really wanted to shoot nudes. I wanted to find freedom because we weren’t in the church anymore. This book [documents] a 13-year journey of that. It’s literally me finding that freedom, meeting women, hearing their stories and seeing how confident they are. By putting these images out it’s been a form of healing.’
Shae Detar came from a crushingly religious background. Her photography became a way for her to step-by-step free herself from the sexual shame instilled into her froma. young age. Her debut book, ‘Another World’, captures a utopian world where naked women wander through natural landscapes, with often with specific colours on them or around them, creating a surreal atmosphere to the world and the women that exist in the photographs.
Maisie Cousins – Rubbish, Dipping Sauce, grass, peonie, bum
‘The reason I love making art is to be in my own world. To be by myself. As soon as I left university, I thought, “I don’t care about making it, or becoming an artist.” I just wanted to make work that genuinely excited me, and not have to prove it to anybody or be graded on it. I didn’t want to come up with a theory and then make lackluster work. It needed to come together organically rather than thinking about it.’
British artist Maisie Cousins explores the relationship between the beautiful and the grotesque in her photographic book ‘Rubbish, Dipping Sauce, grass, peonie, bum’. Cousins says: ‘Nature is always beautiful and also disgusting. Even the most beautiful people leak, bleed and shit’. Whilst not everyone will find Cousin’s photography erotic, some might find excitement in the intimate close-up frames, the sense of touch and texture, and even the rawness and dirt. Cousins says it best: ‘Our bodies are living, breathing, slimy entities…They’re not polite objects.’ maybe that’s exactly what evokes desire in her photos.
Explore all erotic photographers on Sensuali.
Interview: Meet content creator & sensual photographer: BxSassy
Read: In the realm of erotic art: 5 films about female desire.
Iso
Iso is a writer and filmmaker based in East London. She is passionate about all things erotic and leads a sexy, shame-free life in hope that she can inspire others to do the same. Originally from a Northern seaside town, she is naturally drawn to the best things in life: candyfloss, trashy karaoke bars and heart-shaped sunglasses.
