ArtCore

ArtCore was a fundraiser put on by Good For Her on November 6th, 2009 to support the 2010 Feminist Porn Awards. I was asked to participate after one of the organizers saw me tie at the Keyhole Sessions’ Nuit Blanche event.
Below are the pieces of writing I’d asked each of the models to produce in advance of the event. I wanted to put them being tied in some sort of context for the audience that brought the state of being bound back to their pleasure and experience and desire. Each of the three models gave me quite different pieces of writing, as each of their experiences and philosophies around being tied are quite unique.
Each piece of writing below is preceded by a photograph of that model in the bondage she was in for the night, and displayed in the order the three performances occurred over the course of the night.

laura

artcore_one

I’ve been given two lengths of hemp rope and been instructed to prepare them. They sit in my kitchen for weeks, and I stare at them often. Their presence is a steady reminder of the task and of desire and of undefined scenarios to come, where she will submit me to this rope – the rope that sits now on my kitchen table – a container of many futures and of such strong presence. I learn about curing the rope of extraneous hairs by holding it over a flame, and about massaging jojoba oil into it to make it softer and more pliant. Softer to the skin when it is pulled between skin and rope; more pliant in her hands as she courageously defines new corporeal shapes. I press my nose to the rope, I inhale, and it smells like rust and mist and a barn. I like the neutral tones, the earthy quality and the purity of a material absent of dyes. I think of her small hands binding me with it, and it sends shivers to parts of my body, parts of my body that awaken violently, growing restless with myself for not having yet finished my task. There is a ritual to the process that is deep: she gives me the rope to prepare which is my bondage. I sit with this rope between my hands, feeling the connection between making this rope mine and my own submission to her which intensifies through my submission to the rope. There is a bond that extends between what I am holding in my hands and her, a bond that I trust and yearn for and feels like I will adore forever. Rope and skin, the rope follows and yields to her plan, her schemes, for tying and containing and exposing me – and as the rope tightens, and this is the part I like the best, my skin discovers a trust in the rope that matches the trust it has for my bones. In bondage, the rope becomes an exoskeleton, holding me, holding me up and holding me open and holding me in an embellished embrace. I am carcass under the beauty of the rope design, I am free from my previous form, a form that submitted to her to become something else.

jen

artcore_two

I talk with my hands. In fact, I have been known to sit on them to keep my arms from flapping around during conversation. I have even attempted to learn sign language because I believe the body really does speak a great deal. It might come as a surprise that having been physically bound in contexts both private and public, I have never felt muted in the process. It opens up a very liberating channel of communication between my mind and my body. It is important for me to do what my body tells me, and sometimes it helps to just shut up and listen to it. When my body feels supported, it is peaceful.My mental capacity comes into sharper focus when my body is calm, and my inner strength comes from knowing that I do not have to rely on my body to maintain control. Being tied requires me to trust that strength. Where trust is, fear is not. Being in bondage makes me feel powerful.

mara

artcore_three

I’m a woman and a feminist, I like being tied up and I don’t think it’s a coincidence – because the level of trust involved requires a safe and equal environment; because of the need to feel strong and comfortable in your own skin before you allow someone else any control over it; because of how accutely aware it makes you of your body – there are a number of connections between the subjects but it’s hard to talk about these things without sounding like you’re taking yourself too seriously and without using the word ‘empowering’, and I’m not really the sort of person who says ‘empowering’ so I will say simply that I’m a woman and a feminist, rope feels good and being tied up turns me on and that should be enough.

Thanks to Chase and Alison at Good For Her for inviting me to participate, to everyone at Bread & Circus for helping the event run so smoothly, and to my three models for being so lovely and patient.