This is from a series of pictures taken during an impromptu demo session I did with a lovely group of people last summer. All you can see of me is the top of my head and one elbow, pretty much, but it’s still my favourite pic of the bunch.
I’ve been invited to perform at ArtCore, a fundraiser being thrown by Good For Her in support of the 2010 Feminist Porn Awards. The show’s happening this Friday, November 6th at Bread & Circus theatre in Kensington Market. It’s at 299 Augusta, so just a little bit south of College and west of Spadina. Here’s a link to the Facebook Event page. It’s ten bucks, 19+ only (a licensed venue), and doors open at 8pm. It is shaping up to be a pretty fantastic evening, with a great lineup of videos and performances throughout the night by Dylan Ryan, Frances Mahon and Ab Horrence.
From Good For Her’s release:
“One person’s art is another person’s porn, and one person’s porn is another person’s art. ArtCore will look at art influenced porn and porn influenced art with video screenings and performances that laugh in the face of boundaries between the erotic and the artistic.
Featuring clips from both new directors and new work from Feminist Porn Award winning directors, this evening promises you’ll never look at fruit, hot dogs, Barbie dolls or fully clothed men in quite the same way again.”
I’ll be tying before the show, during the intermission, and after the show is done. I’m not sure WHERE I’ll be working… I have a feeling that’ll get sorted out on the night. Wherever there’s space, pretty much. Pictures will be posted after the fact, as long as permission is granted by each of the three models I’ll be working with.
Two of the models – Jen & Mara – I’ve worked with quite a lot at the Keyhole Sessions. In fact, both of them were there from the very beginning, and are not only familiar now with my style of tying, but comfortable with me, which is important. The third person, and first up in the evening, is my friend Laura who I’ve tied before in a demo-like situation and am looking forward to getting some rope on again.
When I was approached to take part in this event, and found out that they wanted me to tie, I was a little apprehensive at first. Frankly, I was worried about the optics of the whole thing. I wasn’t sure how me tying up pretty ladies fit in with the context of the evening, and I didn’t want to do it if it meant I was going to stick out as being THAT guy. After talking about it a bit with Chase & Alison, the organizers of both this event and the Feminist Porn Awards, we came up with a way to have the ropework fit into the context of the evening.
Each model is giving us a piece of writing, a few paragraphs at most, about how the act of being tied or being in bondage makes her feel stronger, more empowered or connected with her sexuality in a positive and healthy way. Each model’s piece will be printed large and displayed behind her, or just off to the side, while I’m tying so that the audience has a bit of an inside view on her experience. I’m hoping as well – and I’ll encourage this – that the models will interacting with the audience to a degree while they’re being tied. The last thing I want is for the models to be disconnected or passive. I want them to be engaged, both with the audience and with me.
I hope it works. I’ll of course be answering any questions the audience might have, as best I can. Not to mention live tweeting as often as is possible.
From a mid-summer shoot with m. I just love how natural rope can seem so rich against skin.
Shot by N. Maxwell Lander, a fantastic photographer I can’t wait to work with again.
This is what I spent the night of October 3rd, 2009 doing. And I have to say, there are much worse ways to spend an evening.
The Keyhole Sessions hosted a special event at Nuit Blanche this year, “Girls.Grease.Rope” and it was a blast. Seven models, six hours, two riggers, a lot of energy and some fantastic artwork made for a very memorable and exciting evening. Everyone pulled together and the whole night ran amazingly smoothly.
Click on the picture above for the Madame’s wrap-up post about the evening, she pretty much covers all the necessary thank-yous and shout-outs. My co-rigger for the evening, lotuslily, blogged some thoughts about the night here, and Skellington, one of our models, wrote about her first experience on stage for us here. I haven’t done much digging, but I imagine a search on Flickr for “nuit blanche keyhole sessions” or even just “nuit blanche hot girls rope” might come up with a few images. Besides the amazing number of people who came out to draw, there certainly was no shortage of cameras, phone- and otherwise.
We took last week off of the Keyhole Sessions, giving us all a chance to recouperate. We’re back on stage this Tuesday the 13th, in the lower studio at 100 A Ossington in Toronto. If you’re around and feel like getting pencil to paper, come on by.
Thanks to @violetblue for the tip.
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