Opening Event – Saturday 5 September 6-8pm
FREE Gallery Tour with Grace Lau – Saturday 17 October 3pm
Since the early 1980s, Grace Lau’s photographic journey through sexuality, gender identity and sado-masochistic subculture has explored a world largely hidden from mainstream view. Fetish Stories brings together a selection of works from a ten-year period in which Lau immersed herself in these subcultures, from her earliest male nudes and documentation of ‘Skin Two’ functions and dominatrices’ dungeons, to her later work exploring cross-dressing and changing ideas around sexuality and identity.
As a photographer of Chinese parentage and a feminist, Grace has often found herself outside the mainstream in the UK. Perhaps this position has contributed to her longstanding interest in the marginalised and the invisible. During her early work around fetishism, bondage and sadomasochism, she immersed herself in the scene, joining underground clubs, parties and events to obtain close-up documentation of the people, atmosphere and action.
“I am delighted that Solaris asked me to show a retrospective of my 1980/90s ‘Fetish Stories’. Following Solaris, the exhibition will be shown at the Bishopsgate Institute who will receive all my archival material from this period to house in their research collections and library.
“That period was an extraordinary journey into the subversive world of fetishism, when I visited specialised clubs and dominatrix dungeons and entered the private lives of ordinary people to document their performative fantasies. ‘Fetish Stories’ is a small selection of what I observed and participated in with my camera.”
Solaris Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Grace Lau.
Image © Grace Lau | @photohastings | @solaris_print | gracelau.co.uk | @lau2261