Kink Culture: NOEL GRAYDON: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF DESIRE

for Nettie

"essentially two little phrases that described
what I’m looking for. One is "liberty in restraint",
the other is "beauty is in the eyes on the beholden"
Noel Graydon, "Liberty In Restraint"

Fetish photographer Noel Graydon had a close relationship with Australia's Kink-E Magazine.

His work appeared on the cover of issue 8, as well as a full colour spread inside, while "Liberty in Restraint" (Michael Ney's documentary about Noel) featured in Vol 2 Issue 5. Noel's work was also the inspiration for the "Provocateur Erotic Art Exhibition" that Kink-E produced for the Melbourne Leather Festival in 2005, which gave twenty one other artists the opportunity to exhibit. As Kitten points out, "Noel's work sold really well and I believe it launched his work into the Melbourne Fetish Community along with the screening of "Liberty in Restraint" that I produced in the same festival".

Since then, Noel and Kitten worked together on several projects, culminating in the exhibition that was due to open at Abode, in Melbourne in August.

Noel suffered a fatal heart attack on Saturday 7 July in Brisbane. He is survived by his wife, Annette and two beautiful daughters, Neisha Caitlin and Zoe Saoirse. "Noel was a great raconteur", Michael Ney concludes his recent tribute, " a truly brilliant joker, inventive in the extreme ... capped off with a touch of the kinky philosopher". He will be greatly missed.

Written by curator Mistress160, here is Kink-E's tribute, from issue 19:

NOEL

Noel was born Noel Jason Gredden in Brisbane in 1971 (Graydon, his professional name, was the original spelling of the family surname). He always knew what he wanted to do:

"photography has always been my passion, I started playing with cameras at a very young age (8yrs) and committed myself to the craft at the age of seventeen with my first assisting job"

He had few allusions about his chosen career:

"to survive in Brisbane, where I started my career, you have to be a general photographer ... over the years I have shot everything from model portfolios, advertising, editorial, sports, Public Relations, Corporate and even the occasional wedding for friends"

There was an up side to this – Noel found it provided "an excellent grounding in many different disciplines and techniques".

Noel's first job was as an assistant to a commercial photographer and later, as assistant video cameraman in several video production companies. He then sought professional opportunities as a freelance photojournalist, especially projects or publications that furthered his interest in all things erotic. Noel produced his first erotic photograph at fifteen years of age . However, by his early twenty's Noel felt something was missing - a reason, or underlying sense of purpose - from his erotic images. He found that missing something in fetish.

When Noel decided to explore this interest further, he realized that prior to moving to Sydney:

“I didn't have a balanced life. I was living photography 20 out of every 24 hours … so then [I came] to Sydney and [found] a different interest, one that combined with my photographic career and life, and then I realized "I'm twenty five years old and I've never really partied, better get busy"

He did. Fascinated by the local BDSM scene he quickly became a part of it, acquired expertise and skills as a dominant (Master Venom) and rarely picked up a camera for several years:

"It was the best thing I could have done. I knew so much about photography and knew nothing about living"

Eventually his desire to create, and to document the extraordinary BDSM world around him, led him back to photography. While his photojournalist work covered other areas of the Arts, it was the alternative communities that truly inspired him. His fetish photography reflected his acceptance and role with the kinky community - he was no longer an outsider photographing the edges but "an insider looking out".

The results didn't go unobserved by the local art world. Noel's work featured in both solo and group exhibitions, including "Beauty and violence" at the Stephanie Burns Gallery in Canberra in 2003, which can be seen in Michael Ney's award winning "Liberty in Restraint", released the same year.

The documentary “follows Noel in his quest for authenticity, revealing the mentors, muses and masochists who inspired his artistic endeavors, showing the passion for his art and its themes". It took three years to complete, and was extremely well received, with Julian Shaw, of FILMLINK Magazine, observing:

"by sizing up all aspects of the fetish universe, filmmaker Michael Ney wants to show us that two themes are at work in every aspect of BDSM: compassion and trust. With a detached but relentless eye, Michael Ney … obliterates the notion that S&M is a form of violence"

NOEL'S ART

For a man who adored the combination of photography and fetish, Noel was in the right place at the right time.

"Fetish photography" as an art medium only recently came into being. Prior to the late 20th century, fetish linked erotic imagery was unacceptable in the mainstream. However from the late 80s onwards, as designers began to exploit the potential of rubber and PVC fabrics, the resulting combination of fashion and fetish changed social attitudes. This allowed photographers greater freedom. Today, mainstream acceptance of BDSM images and icons has seen fetish photography become a legitimate artistic form that features in museum exhibitions and Taschen "art books".

Noel always understood fetishism's potential, stating “fetish is everywhere, it permeates real life", and "I don't just shoot fetish "art" for "art's" sake. These styles and visual techniques are accessible to everyone. To some people fetish is a passing thrill but to others it's a large part of their life and or identity, consequently it makes sense to preserve ones "alter ego" for posterity”.

His images reveal this. In many photographs a subject's face may not be visible (as Noel often utilized close ups of specific parts of the body - breasts or a cock in bondage / a torso in a corset, etc) but their fetish "alter ego" is clearly represented. It may be revealed via a latex body suit, a corset, leather gear, or bondage ropes - via whatever particular objects are the focus of the subject's desire. Unlike many other fetish photographers, being an integral part of the kinky community (more than "just a player out on the fetish scene encountering people as you do sporadically and randomly") gave Noel the insight to understand, for example, that "while someone might appear to be fully restrained bondage, they are actually quite free, sexually free and free from societal constraints".

As "an insider looking out", his images now captured something previously unseen:

"I find real abuse dark. I find real fetish very light. In fact the amount of dark images that I've done with fetish are minimal because I'm actually trying to show the light and the beauty and the love. I've always been trying to show how love is expressed in a fetish context because I think that's what the untrained eye misses"

He also explored trying to separate the fetish from the fetishist. Was this even possible, he argued, without dehumanizing the players? This was the goal of his Coitus series, where:

"photographs focus solely on the object of desire via a cross process colour image, where flesh and white background become monochrome and the fetish is highlighted in red. This allows the identity and personality of the photograph's subject to virtually fade from view, mimicking the way in which the fetishist could be said to focus solely upon the object of desire, rather than the human being facilitating their fetish.

"In this way the photographer critiques the very notion that all that matters to the fetishist is the fetish itself, for it is the edges of the image, the whited out flesh, the disembodied cock, the latex clad alabaster breasts that mysteriously pull the viewer into the image"

Noel was also interesting in pushing technical boundaries. To provide one example, Summer of '33 is one of Noel's best known, and most iconic images - it appeared on the cover of issue 8 of Kink-E. It's also important for being the first major collaborative work between Noel and his wife Annette, a very talented graphic designer. Noel writes of seeing:

"an opportunity for a photo montage (totally out of character for me - I'm an old school trained film zealot) .... I described a vision to [my wife] which excited and inspired her. We dug up stock shots of mine from up to seven years ago (sky and oil refinery) and composed a mock up of what we could possibly create ... 19 different images gently massaged together later and the Summer of '33 is a reality"

For Noel, this was a significant change of direction: " finally a process that enables me to visually realize the Fetish that I could never express in the pure photographic medium". Late last year on his website, Noel launched Venomhaus.com:

"previously it was just me as a photographer achieving the "Photographically possible", now with Digital Photography being what it is and Nettie's awesome Photoshop skills, I feel we can achieve MORE than photography and visually realize the Fantasy images we've always dreamed of. It's incredibly fulfilling for me to work with such incredible support"

NOEL’S LEGACY

At the time of Noel's tragic death, things were going very well professionally.

He was achieving his dream, "specializing in what I love doing, which is creative portraiture of creative people (actors, musicians, writers) and pursue a fine art career in parallel". His recent Venomhaus pod casts ( "offering fetish art fans a closer look at how my art is created" as well as other aspects of the fetish world) were proving popular internationally.

The North American rights for "Liberty in Restraint", and VOD rights in UK, had just been picked up . His photography had featured in issue 55 of Skin Two. He was working with Kink-E's Kitten on the exhibition for Abode (featuring both old and new work) and there was interest being shown in New York about a possible exhibition there.

Noel's legacy is a significant one. Michael Ney is absolutely correct when he writes of Noel’s originality and courage to:

"create dangerous visions. One of the themes of the documentary is "family" – encapsulating both the queer community ("my alternative family" says Noel) and Noel's wife and children – and in the creation of his fine art satire Suffer The Little Children - exposing the hypocrisy of the church, highlighting the issue of priest pedophilia"

Alternately Noel was equally happy with one on one shoots that captured the kinky “alter ego”.

Juxtaposing black and white with vibrant colour, dense shadow with white out, sensuality with sexuality, Noel's photography belongs amongst the best of his profession. His fetish images truly capture for all of us the unique iconography of our desires.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + ONLINE RESOURCES:

Quotes by Noel from his website and from "Liberty In Restraint".

The images reproduced in this post are available for sale from Noel's website, below:

Many thanks to:
Kink-E Magazine
and to Nettie,
for permission to reproduce Noel's works:
Sub's eye view
Innocence
Latex
"Liberty In Restraint" cover
(featuring Summer of '33)
Noel's Violet Wand podcast = You Tube