Berlin-based photographer Max Eicke met a stranger on a plane, who turned out to be a Dominatrix, and after the conversation he became fascinated with the scene. He merely found “cliched” takes on the hidden world and decided to approach it in a “documentary” and “humane” way in his project ‘Dominas’, which portrays women who make a living by taking control of their clients in BDSM role play scenarios.
At one point he met up with a dominatrix in her dungeon to talk about the project and she told her slave, who only wore a loincloth, to bring Max a Coke. This was a situation totally new to him and he had no idea how to react. As it later turned out the slave was a historian who added quite interesting thoughts to the conversation between Max and the dominatrix.
Being handed a bottle of pop by a BDSM slave, with whom he went on to unpick theories of sexual liberation, and other encounters like it, helped to shift Eicke’s perceptions of sex work, he says.
“Situations like that really changed my mind and surprised me in positive ways. For me it’s really about the people and not their masks or roles.”
Given the underground nature of the BDSM scene itself, it wasn’t easy to find subjects for the project. Eicke had never contacted a dominatrix before so he had to resort to cold-calling women to find subjects for his project.
“Their reactions ranged from confusion over curiosity to helpfulness or even aggressiveness,” he says. “Most of them were highly suspicious at the beginning since they had bad experiences in the past, ranging from private weirdos stalking them to reputable media representatives wanting to present them as perverts. At first I was looking for open conversations.”
“Often I first had to explain that I was not a potential client looking for a free session in exchange of photographs. Sometimes it was quite tricky to get beyond the stereotypes and also the women’s expectations.”
Eicke’s work is built upon a process where he would first meet his subjects in a cafe or bar to explain his plan. After the first meeting they met up at his studio for photographs and interviews that could take up to a day to capture.
“I just chatted away with them looking for some moments in between. When shooting with a large format camera you cannot make the sitter forget the camera though, the camera is always present. Regarding the outfits it was important to me that they chose something they felt comfortable with and what they would also wear for their job as I sensed that the outfit really was a big part of their professional personas and identities.”
During the three years Eicke spent working with the project, he also learned about how BDSM is mistakenly seen as only violent, leaving little space for romance, emotions or love.
“It is unimaginable for many people that BDSM is based upon mutual consent and that pain with relish requires an enormous amount of honesty and open communication,” he says. “Speaking to so many people from the BDSM and fetish community I really got the impression that within this scene there is often more respect for one another, a better knowledge of safer sex and a higher level of openness and trust than in many conventional relationships.”
Dominas by Max Eicke is out now.
Source: Independent.co.uk