To continue the beginning

After college I relocated to NYC and began a new life. I made some great friends that helped me explore the type of artist I desired to be. I was explaining my past college project "insecurities" to my fabulous friend Bunny and he asked me what I wished to learn from this. What was that project missing, what other questions did I have? I thought about it and I realized I had many questions. How could I ask these people "Why would you take an image of your privates and have the need to share them?".

Bunny was part of a group of artist that threw underground parties once a month. It was called RUBULAD and it was a collection of artist, musicians, performance artist and really anyone or anything creative. This group of people are a large inspiration in my work today (I have to give kudos to those people... I miss them very much). Bunny asked me, so how are you going to ask? I answered honestly, I would have to meet them. He quickly got on the phone to his friend Sari, who is the founder of Rubulad and hooked me up with a space to build a booth and take pictures. To give people an anonymous way to expose themselves freely with no judgement. I was shocked that Sari was so open that she gave us the go ahead to explore this idea.

Bunny and I soon got on our way designing and creating a booth. We found a vacant space within the party spot and created a comfortable creative place for me to begin this new venture. The spot we found was a long narrow space between two rooms and had once been used as a recording studio. There were windows on each side looking on to adjacent rooms. We built two levels into the back wall, like shelves that one could sit on comfortably and creatively. We then rapped the walls and ceiling in red fabric and made a curtain for privacy. We did leave one of the windows open to one of the outer rooms and covered it with a curtain. I wanted to give the volunteer the option to expose themselves to the outside crowd if they chose to be watched. Bunny found me a fabulous podium that lit up from the inside and he made a fuzzy white robe to block off the crowd. My wonderful friend Rosie would be my representative and explain to passer-bys what this project was all about. I stayed in the back area behind the curtain and waited for a volunteer to enter.

To be honest... it was to be a one time thing for the Valentines Day party of 2002. I thought it was an appropriate subject for that day. None of us had any idea that it would be such a hit that I knew I had to continue my research and create something from the knowledge I was learning about intimacy and sexuality. So... it began.

I knew that I wanted the volunteers to be anonymous, that was the point. I knew for it to be that way I needed to use a Polaroid (I did not want negatives floating around). I chose the

Polaroid "Joy Cam". Perfect, smaller than the normal size and come on... the name is perfect! I took one photo and one photo only of the genitalia presented. No face, I asked the volunteers to give me a name, any name so I could document the experience and have a list so they could find themselves within the project. Yeah, I was given some creative names. I have to say the

majority of the people were honest and gave their given name. I did not tell them how to pose, I told them "you own it, you present it the way you choose. I let them free to express their individual feelings about this experience. I had one rule, I would not touch anyone. I was there to simply take a picture, but I soon realized it was much more than that. I began to feel like a counselor, doctor, priest in a confessional booth, sometimes I felt bad (Catholic girl), but mostly I felt like a friend. The intimacy without touch was very dear to me.

My friend Amy posing in the booth.

The volunteers showing their genitalia did not

have their faces in the photos.