Tracing the Leather Fetish in Contemporary Art

Over the past decade, there has been an increased curatorial interest in the resurgence of craft techniques alongside a spotlight on 20th- and 21st-century artists using materials such as ceramic and woven fibre. However, not all materials have received due attention. Leather is a ubiquitous, organic and, at times, controversial material, but it is yet to be thoroughly explored. So why consider leather? Because of its fixture in contemporary subcultural life, namely the leather fetish community, which can be further explored through a selection of key artworks. “Leather sexualities and cultures are, at their core, profoundly visual, having developed and transformed an astonishing set of signifiers,” wrote Andy Campbell in Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art. Campbell argues that leather garments declare sexually non-conformist codes, and this is seen in the garments that a leatherperson might wear : jacket, trousers, harness, cap, gauntlets and boots. These signifiers embody the performance practices of power exchange central to the leather fetish. Through fashion, the leather scene has had elements taken and palletised to become safe and fashionable. Notably, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/18/taylor-swift-harness_n_7613726.html?" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Taylor Swift</a> has been walking the streets in a leather harness purchased from a BDSM store in Los Angeles. More recently, the harness was featured in Louis Vuitton’s SS19 menswear show and was later <a href="https://pagesix.com/2019/02/05/virgil-abloh-says-his-louis-vuitton-harnesses-are-empowering/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">worn by Timothée Chalamet</a> at the Golden Globes. Yet, the spaces that support the forefront of this culture are becoming rarer as venues disappear in cities due to gentrification and rent hikes. The inevitable recession following the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic could further impact the independent venues that serve the original leather communities. Sadly, as will be shown with some of the examples in this piece, these safe spaces are often where people can feel truly liberated. <a href="https://medium.com/@laurietgbarron/tracing-the-leather-fetish-in-contemporary-art-82d29a754f41">Read More</a>