GAIRAH PRASKOVIA: Depraved Red Delusions
If there is one word to describe Gairah Praskovia's work, it would have to be connected to provocation or lust. Her art is not everyone's cup of tea as it undercovers fetishes and perverted desires of the flesh. Categorized as "erotic grotesque" (エログロ; "ero-guro") it is focused on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence. Something that the Marquis de Sade would be honoured to witness:
A real mind fuck.
Her most recurring symbols are nudity, bondage, Shibari, Gore and subtle pornography, sometimes used by other famous Japanese artists such as Toshio Saeki or the "Godfather of Japanese Erotica" or Suehiro Maruo, from which Gairah's work is very reminiscent of.
Born in the north of Spain, the primary source of inspiration for the illustrator and perfomer is driven mainly by Japanese culture, where she spent some years in the past and learned everything about Ukiyo-e illustrations, and other Japanese techniques.
We sat down with the artist to get inside her kinky mind and talk about her inspirations and Japanese influences.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background, who is Gairah and how did you end up creating art?
I was raised in a chaotic home in the north of Spain, near Portugal. Since I was a child I grew up with art at home and also it was my refugee when everything was wrong in there. When I began art school, I started exploring thoughts that I had when I was younger. Sex, violence and also mixed them with some ukiyo-e tradition. These spontaneous images, I mixed with my world of BDSM performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the world, how we work and even how we form relationships and interact with one another. How has COVID-19 affected you on a personal level?
I was one of the million people who had Covid. Emotionally, I suffer too much being isolated. I was very scared for myself and for my family and my grandad died because of corona.
What are you most looking forward to doing, after this pandemic is over?
Return to performing and shooting BDSM with my fellas, I missed it so much.
Your work is very sensual and erotically charged, has it always been easy to create such images, or have there been times where obstacles have confronted you?
I had to confront some things at times to work with some brands. Most of them don’t want to work with a person who supports sexual work and who is also an SM sexual worker. But it is ok for me, they make me see my professional career as a challenge where I don’t have the option to change my style or my statement.
I am who am, maybe a freak in love with pain, sex and punishment, but it is my world; I will not change it for anything. Like one time Ernesto Guevara said “I would rather die standing up to live life on my knees.”
What is your opinion on society’s attitude to sex and sexuality, are there ideas and elements that you would like to change? What can we learn from one another and what do you think we need to do to improve our intimacy?
If it was in my hand’s, first thing I would change, is to legalise sex work in all areas, with the same rights in front of the law as other workers. Respect is the answer, everyone deserves the freedom to choose who they are, the life which they want to live.
On your website, you say that you create audiovisual content that some may label as porn. How is creating this content different from creating your illustrations and art? Is there a difference between porn and art for you?
The audiovisual content, such as the videos and animations I’ve made were always made by the eyes of my soul. I use BDSM to express my emotions in all of these ways: fighting, wrestling, being tied up during bondage sessions, and drawing is part of that world. I recompiled my experiences and I add some fantasy to them.
Your artwork seems to be full of references to different cultures and ideas, where do you get your inspiration from?
From the Middle Ages, The Holy Inquisition, witchcraft, to the Edo period, to Ero Guro artists from the XX likeToshio Saeki, Toshio Maeda and Suehiro Maruo. Ukiyo culture developed in Yoshiwara, the licensed red-light district of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), the site of many brothels frequented by Japan's growing middle class.
The famous Japanese woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world", had their origins in these districts, and often depicted scenes of the floating world itself such as geisha, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, samurai, merchants, and prostitutes.
The term "Ukiyo", when written as "the floating world", is also an ironic, homophonous allusion to the earlier Buddhist term Ukiyo (憂き世, "sorrowful world"), referring to the earthly plane of death and rebirth from which Buddhists sought release.
In its modern usage, the term ”Ukiyo” is used to refer to a state of mind emphasising living in the moment, detached from the difficulties of life.
You said you have an interest in history and philosophy, are you able to incorporate these elements into your artwork too? For example, philosophy is a very abstract and academic concept, how are you able to condense these ideas into a visual form?
As I told you about “Ukiyo”, (more or less it was a lifestyle, but it had some ideas that made it in proximity similar to philosophy. Also Albert Camus with his absurd concept of life and the philosophy and the treaties of Marquis de Sade, his works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts.
In his lifetime some of these were published under his own name while others, which de Sade denied having written, appeared anonymously. De Sade is best known for his erotic works, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, suffering, anal sex (which he called sodomy), crime, and blasphemy against Christianity. He was a proponent of absolute freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion, or law.
The figure of Aleister Crowly was also important to the creation of some artworks because of the process of the philosophy of Thelema. I don’t like to talk about it too much because it is something I do for myself and for my mind. But it is so important for my life and work.
We can see that there is a clear Japanese influence on your work and elements like shibari, tengu masks, shoji doors are recurrent in your artworks. What is your connection to Japan, and how it has shaped you and your creative work?
I was living there in the year 2015 to learn Japanese. I fell in love with the history of the country, I knew shibari before, but there I learnt a lot about art and about the art of Shuuchinawa(羞恥 縄) “Rope Tie” , which is used to make the tied person embarrassed and create an erotic scene.
In 2020 you had a solo exhibition called Kill them with kindness, what is the significance of the title? Who do you want to “kill with kindness”?
It was inspired by a video of Kevin Spacey uploaded on Youtube on the 25th of December 2019. Who? Or What? I am tired of being on a fake system with politicians who only talk about demagogy, they only talk empty words, hugging violence with a poor system where only rich people can live in good conditions and leaving the others behind.
Are there any collaborations or projects that you would like to work on in the future?
Yes, I would like to work more on graphics for some fetish events in Europe, and also with some illustrator fellas to produce collaborations this year and in 2022.
Cinema is a huge influence on everyone at GATA, are there any films in particular that have inspired and shaped you in the past?
My first favourite movie when I was a kid was Ichi The Killer. Right now, I am discovering the Pinku-eiga (ピンク映画) and my favourite saga is The Guinea Pig Films (especially Flowers of Flesh and Blood).