PT #1398

The video shows a performance for the camera that focuses on the implications that medical institutions have in the control of the body and the construction of sexual perversions. The piece involves sadomasochistic and body modification practices, and kinky activities, specifically fisting.

The video also explores the extent to which a work of art that involves BDSM practices may be affected by institutional power. In other words, in the UK, it is legally forbidden to possess material that depicts people engaging in sadomasochistic and kinky activities. People can be convicted under Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, otherwise known as the Extreme Pornography Act unless they can demonstrate that what the images show is part of an artwork. This performance for the camera has also been recorded for my practice-based PhD research and has to follow certain regulations to be accepted by the university I am attending. Consequently, at the beginning and the end of the video, I put a statement that declares that every act performed are part of an art piece and were used for research purpose. The end of the video also shows the aftercare.
Due to the statement that I had to use, this piece underlines the challenges that an artist whose work revolves around the use of sadomasochistic practice may face because of institutional power that addresses the aforementioned activities as illegal despite being consensual.