WHAT DOES SHIBARI MEAN TO ME?

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For me, rope art is about capturing truth. A form of honesty that I struggle with. Exploring a moment that is real and finding beauty within that space. Seeing myself as I am, interacting with the people close to me.

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Rope encapsulates both my body and mind.

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The physical constraints provide me a safe space in which to explore my inner chaos; my fears, desires and passions. By suffering with someone else I both see and am seen at my most vulnerable, together we share an emotional space, a connection of overwhelming intensity. Two humans giving themselves explicitly to the creation of a unique form of beauty. I feel that such connections can only come from a place of love, even if it is only a transitory kind of love, shared for the moments in which we are connected through rope.

 

During these exchanges I cannot lie; it’s hard to perform* for the attention of my/your camera whilst giving myself fully to the experience, hence allowing the documentation of a raw, honest version of myself to be created organically.

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I am continually grateful for the trust and love shared with every person I have been tied by and who has invited me to tie them, and to those who have welcomed me to photograph their rope journey or witnessed mine.

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* I use the term "perform" here to refer to the act of putting on a persona, not being an authentic version of ones self, rather than making any reference to whether the setting of a rope session is in front of an audience or not. This does not refer to an inability to showcase a rope scene as a live performance/demonstration/showcase.

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SELF DOCUMENTATION IN ROPE

 

“It is possible, he said, to be in love not with someone but with their eyes.

I mean, with how eyes that aren’t yours let you see where you are, who you are”

- Ali Smith

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This statement is both an inspiration and summary of how I frequently view my life as a travelling model, however I also believe it applies to my own camera. One of the things I love about taking self-portraits with others is the insight I get to who I am with each person, a voyeuristic view that documents the intimacy without intruding on a moment.

A set can be staged, but these emotions cannot.

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The majority of rope images I take are self portrait documentations: I set up a camera on a tripod with a timer attached. If I’m taking photos for a few minutes I can be distracted enough by the sound of the camera to “perform” instinctively, but over a longer period of time (most rope scenes last anything from 30 minutes to 7 hours) it becomes harder to maintain any amount of ‘falsehood’ or persona that is untrue to who I really am and that’s what I am interested in capturing.

 

In rope I forgo looking pretty in order to feel beautiful.

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