Араки. Бондаж

Araki. Bondage

He’s been called a genius and a poet, but also a misogynist, a pornographer, a monster—but NobuyoshiAraki’s work transcends simple moralistic classifications. He has said of his work: “There is no conclusion. It’s completely open. It doesn’t go anywhere.” One of thegreatest Japanese photographers of our time,Araki’s oeuvre is marked by an unmistakablemastery of composition, color, and tone.Meaning “the beauty of tight binding,” Kinbaku-bi, thetraditional Japanese art of erotic bondagehas long fascinated the photographer, becomingone of his most important subjects.Arakiplays with patterns of subjugation and emancipation, death and desire and with the slippage between serene image and shock. Whether literally or figuratively, his models are certainly immobilized, but in the most tantalizing ways—girls lay bound but defiant, suspended from the ceiling, in traditional dress or nude, face-on, sometimes with a flower subtly positioned between their legs.Arakipicks his all-time favorite images of bondage. The result is a testament to his ability to tantalizing balance sexual vulnerability and seduction like no other.