City of the Broken Dolls

Rating:
Summary: The Aesthetics of Injury
Review: I received this volume as a gift, given by a friend who knows my interest in forensic and fetish photography. The subtitle is `A Medical Art Diary 1993-1996,' but it is actually a difficult book to classify. It is composed of 100 plates, most of which are of bandaged women in various stages of mild undress. They are either wandering around Tokyo, in hospital rooms, or at home. There are some additional contextual shots of scenes in the city without the obligatory bandaged woman.

I am tempted to leave it at that. There is no doubt that this is fetish photography. The liner notes write of Slocomb's vision of Tokyo as `a city seething with undercurrents of violent fantasy, fetishism and bondage.' What gives me a problem is that Slocombe's images lack the kind of intensity that I would expect in this kind of photography. If anything, the bandaging de-sexualizes the women, unlike true bondage, which over-emphasizes sexuality.

The printing style emphasizes this difference. All but the cover are in black and white, and are a bit soft in tone and focus. Composition is very offhand and snapshot-like. The overall effect is almost ethereal and bloodless. It's as is we are living in a dream, but one that lacks a story line. I find myself intellectually understanding the implications of the photographs, but totally lacking any visceral reaction.

If I were to attack the same problems, I know I would do it differently. I would strive for some element (other than the mere presence of bandaged women) to focus the viewer and provide continuity over the range of images. Slocombe's choices are interesting, but I do not find them compelling

Rating:
Summary: The Aesthetics of Injury
Review: I received this volume as a gift, given by a friend who knows my interest in forensic and fetish photography. The subtitle is 'A Medical Art Diary 1993-1996,' but it is actually a difficult book to classify. It is composed of 100 plates, most of which are of bandaged women in various stages of mild undress. They are either wandering around Tokyo, in hospital rooms, or at home. There are some additional contextual shots of scenes in the city without the obligatory bandaged woman.

I am tempted to leave it at that. There is no doubt that this is fetish photography. The liner notes write of Slocomb's vision of Tokyo as 'a city seething with undercurrents of violent fantasy, fetishism and bondage.' What gives me a problem is that Slocombe's images lack the kind of intensity that I would expect in this kind of photography. If anything, the bandaging de-sexualizes the women, unlike true bondage, which over-emphasizes sexuality.

The printing style emphasizes this difference. All but the cover are in black and white, and are a bit soft in tone and focus. Composition is very offhand and snapshot-like. The overall effect is almost ethereal and bloodless. It's as is we are living in a dream, but one that lacks a story line. I find myself intellectually understanding the implications of the photographs, but totally lacking any visceral reaction.

If I were to attack the same problems, I know I would do it differently. I would strive for some element (other than the mere presence of bandaged women) to focus the viewer and provide continuity over the range of images. Slocombe's choices are interesting, but I do not find them compelling

Rating:
Summary: Japanese Sculpture!
Review: This is fetish photography. However, its not in the style of the excellent 'Generation Fetish,' but rather different. It presents bondage images of female Japanese women injured (in some cases from real events such as Motorcycle acidents - others are studio recreations). The idea of bondage comes from the medical bonds that have been placed upon the subjects - Should situations that are intended to heal become a sexual thing? The bandages and casts, that in the black and white photography vividly stand out as symbolic white bonds - allow one to explore where the boundries of fetish excess lie. None of the imagery is gratuitous but does raise the question of guilt and feminists may argue that that it is the optiomy of the 'male gaze.' Eitherway the product confronts the audience and questions the moral boundry of sexual arrousal - Whether you enjoy it or not this is fantastic!

Rating:
Summary: Japanese Sculpture!
Review: This is fetish photography. However, its not in the style of the excellent 'Generation Fetish,' but rather different. It presents bondage images of female Japanese women injured (in some cases from real events such as Motorcycle acidents - others are studio recreations). The idea of bondage comes from the medical bonds that have been placed upon the subjects - Should situations that are intended to heal become a sexual thing? The bandages and casts, that in the black and white photography vividly stand out as symbolic white bonds - allow one to explore where the boundries of fetish excess lie. None of the imagery is gratuitous but does raise the question of guilt and feminists may argue that that it is the optiomy of the 'male gaze.' Eitherway the product confronts the audience and questions the moral boundry of sexual arrousal - Whether you enjoy it or not this is fantastic!