TG: A Photographic Archive of the New Flesh
“The mask serves the double function of displaying and concealing; it is at once surface and depth.”- Francette Patceau, The Symptom of Beauty
This image and the ones after the cut come from the book “Torture Garden: From Bodyshocks to Cybersex,” edited by Dave TG. This book, a frozen moment of 90s fetish club culture, mixes party photos with formal studio shots to showcase the personalities and fetishes of TG’s clubgoes, along with inspirational and well-researched fetish-related quotations.
What strikes me about Alan Sivroni’s portraits in the book is that not one person in his images appears to be insecure or uncomfortable. There are images of old and young people of every ethnicity and body type, and the one thing they have in common is that they all project total ownership and control. That’s not what I see when I look at fetish portraits today. It makes me wonder: was the fetish scene really more confident then than it is now, or is it just careful editing?
Ladies, would you let the guy on the left in the Cenobyte photo take you home? I would! Here’s another picture of him, you perverts. Enjoy!
Sadly, this book is very rare these days, but you can still occasionally find it on places like Amazon.com – here’s a link. Unfortunately, the photographer of the amazing images above, Alan Sivroni, does not have a website. However, Torture Garden’s has a very active site and new events happening very frequently. Their image gallery looks like a good time!
October 24th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
was the fetish scene really more confident then than it is now, or is it just careful editing?
I’ve been out of the “scene” (what there is of it in my area) for several years, but I can suggest why it seems that there is more of the uncomfortable Stand&Model vibe going on these days–and it’s one that Coilhouse itself addresses. It’s the problem of subculture being integrated into the mainstream. I would guess that many in the fetish scene these days have arrived through interest in an advertised product, or (to remove them even further from the experience) through a partner who has interest in an advertised product.
The people who come to kink through self-direction and an internally-driven desire are (of course) going to look more self-possessed and confident in their fetish surroundings. They know they belong there. The people who have come to the scene secondhand may eventually get to that place, but they haven’t yet.
The number of confident fetishists (like the ones pictured above) haven’t decreased. It’s just that the ratio to newcomers (and, yes, posers) has increased.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Gotta quote Wilde on this one:
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person… Give him a mask and he’ll tell you the truth.”
October 24th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I have this thing for Cenobytes and anyone dressed up as one.
I tried to get into the fetish scene here in Virginia, but it’s so stale and boring. There isn’t any excitement to it because what most people here don’t want to let go of their comfort zones.
This was a lovely treat for the eyes though.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
When I do eventually hit England, I plan to do so with a schedule that allows a trip to a TG event. I’ve attended several such happenings here in NC, but they’re, as someone noted above, stale und chock full o’ fadsters. Ze grass is greener und whatnot, but I do ache for something more. Something like what we were promised. Like I, ze codgered old man, experienced “back when”. Hey, we all usually find out about such shite, second hand, so I’m not playing at elitist, but posers *are* legion.
That also, someone beat me to. I’d have to agree, that ze waters have become diluted simply due to ze influx of curious, yet not (yet?) commited, patrons. Ze net hasn’t killed our chances of a vibrantly confident und creatively important scene. If anything, it’s doubled…quadrupled our chances. I think it’s just that we’re all still in ze learning stages as to how we’re going to cope with all of it. We’ve reached this seeming road block in how we interact with our fellow human beings because this screen we view one another through kills anything tactile. Once we get there, our wiring screams bloody murder. So much so, that we’ve come to alienate ourselves further from our own humanity. Let’s face it, nigh on everyone has possibly spent more time than ever in human history, belittling ourselves with confidence issues. Am I rambling incoherently again?
November 4th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
This comes hot on the heels of “FluersduMal”, a book of photography from the last 4 yours of TG shot by bobette, fixture on the london scene. I recommend FluersduMal because I’m in it, as are my last 3 girlfriends.