Photos from almost a decade ago which when posting I shouted: I live for that shit! ;)
Being tied by Tamandua Kinbaku was deeply revealing. Even after years of teaching shibari myself, tying others, performing with ropes and hosting kink spaces. It was the chemistry, and his Akira Naka inspired style which clicked.
I passionately wanted to renegotiate my limits, also my border crossing drive as performer and in general. As ballet dancer I learned from early on to overstretch tendons and pain limits. For my inner punk and desire for edge it became a performative tool of resistance, which I thought needed to be reformulated with a more contemporary and fem signature. After almost 20 years, instagram compatibility, and the shibari/bondage becoming so socially acceptable I often wonder about the resistant potential of it (artistically). Think people who like to enjoy ropes should just do that (if its accessible to them). For ropes on stage I guess it depends on the stories that are told, questions of constellations, and hacking ideas around ‚power play‘ and the functions of it.
The sessions with Tamandua were blissful. A rush and fine sense switching between degrees of devotion, carefully feed backing borders and teasing around them. Also a meditation and emotional empowerment it felt. Later I figured such relationships of unbounded power play dynamics in combination with shibari can be unexpectedly complex. It’s always a learning. Reflecting and positioning oneself around threshold experiences, and integrating them as performative qualities and personally takes time.
As Kinbaku photography with a deeply devoted vibe I like them!