Explicit – exploring the beauty of sex

This project seeks to investigate the perceptions I and others have regarding openness towards sex. While modern society is ostensibly becoming more and more comfortable with sexuality, many young people struggle to celebrate their own relationships with sex. As an image-maker, I have explored how open I could be about my own sexual experiences, thereby encouraging others to do so — without resorting to images that are merely pornographic or scientific. So many aspects of sexual experience remain hidden, mysterious, censored. Adult content, whether it’s film, photography or novels, can arouse but also educate, inspire and look beautiful. And the sex can stay dirty but the values have to be clean and this is what I am trying to showcase through this project. Common visual representations of sex tend to be either pornographic or scientific. Explicit brings a more artistic, stylistic approach that visualises a series of sexual sensations — a celebration of sexual intimacy. I am not expressing desires or sexuality as much as I aim to reflect on the semi-transparency around the topic. The project is for those who might recognise their own beliefs and feelings in the images or text.