These provocative portraits are a celebration of queer erotica

Exploring the boundaries of the erotic through art has always been a tricky terrain: it is often trivialised, censored, pushed into the sidelines, or stifled by moral panic. Today the places of sexual and queer freedoms are shrinking, and digital platforms – thanks to a rising culture of censorship – have been among the first to go. The book Other Intimacies by London-based artist Anna Sampson comes at the right moment to highlight the political power of queer erotica. Turning her lens to strippers, artists, pro-dommes, sex workers, fetishists and queer lovers who make up her community, she crafts the vision of erotic for the 21st century. 

“In this book, I wanted to explore queer desire and intimacy and offer a different perspective on sexuality,” says Sampson. “Performance is also a big part of this work, having been a performer myself and often collaborating with those performing sexuality. I wanted to celebrate the bodies that are usually othered in erotica and mainstream society, to create a space where they can thrive. The visibility of these representations are a crucial part of queer resistance.”

Sampson has always been interested in sexuality. The book encapsulates the last eight years of her work with erotic portraiture and analogue darkroom photography, as well as some of the themes she researched as part of her MA dissertation on navigating sex work in online spaces, which she completed during the pandemic. She is also open about her own experiences in sex work, having funded the book through stripping, and how artistic labour and sex work are often intertwined. 

“What do I look for in my collaborators? It’s a lot more than just aesthetic. I love what they stand for or how they hold themselves, all the messages that they’re projecting into the world” – Anna Sampson

On the pages, Sampson’s subjects are playful and self-possessed, unapologetically making eye contact with the camera or transfixed by pleasure, tender and joyful, their skin lustrous and postures proud. There is an unmistakable air of collaboration about this work, which comes from Sampson shifting the traditional power dynamics of erotic portraiture and turning the role of the model of the muse into an active and empowering stance.  

“What do I look for in my collaborators? I think it's always their voice. It’s a lot more than just aesthetic. I love what they stand for or how they hold themselves, all the messages that they’re projecting into the world. That’s always been more important to me than the aesthetic element. I want all voices and bodies to be valued, and I always try to make it a very collaborative space where we could discuss boundaries and things they would like to explore.” 

Sampson cites Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Sprinkle and Nan Goldin as her inspirations, as well as Ajamu X, who is known for portraying Black queer desire and lives of Black LGBTQI+ people in the UK and who himself appears on the pages of the book. Other Intimacies is divided into three parts: Performance, Intimacy and Resistance, with written contributions from porn performer and founder of Four Chambers, Vex Ashley, porn director Max Disgrace, writer Anastasiia Fedorova, and an epilogue by performer Jay They Stallion, as well as the book’s manifesto written by Sampson herself. 

While publishing the book offered a much-needed respite from online censorship, it was also about the craft of working with image and creating an art object. Published in the limited edition of 300, Other Intimacies was printed using lithography. All the photographs were developed in the darkroom, which remains a special place where she can dedicate herself fully to her art. “I usually do my editing in the darkroom,” Sampson says. “I work out the contrast, the density, the depth of the image there and then, which has been a very rewarding and cathartic process. Photography as a medium has become very instantaneous, whereas the darkroom encourages a lot of care and consideration into every single image. It’s a space where I truly feel in control, which makes the images much more special”. 

Other intimacies by Anna Sampson is available to pre-order here now.