FEATURE:
Erotica
IN THIS PHOTO: Jehnny Beth
Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile’s C.A.L.M.
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I don’t mean to make instant connections…
IN THIS PHOTO: Johnny Hostile with Jehnny Beth
between Madonna, and Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile. The former, as we know, was near the peak of her powers in 1992, and Sex is a 1992 book with photography by Steven Meisel Studio and Fabien Baron. The book features adult content including softcore pornography and simulations of sexual acts including sadomasochism. That book was released just a day after her fifth studio album, Erotica, came out – on 21st October, 1992, the world received this book that would shake some and entice others. It caused quite a lot of furore and, even in 1992, the content was not that shocking. Maybe the fact that it was Madonna and she was being targeted; perhaps the press wanted to drag her down. In any case, the Erotica/Sex release was an early example of a multimedia release that was a different flavour to her Like a Prayer album of 1989. Not only was Madonna providing this bold and exciting project to the world, but I think there was this feeling that society was quite closed-off about sex and things were quite conservative. Now, I think we see Sex as relatively un-shocking, but it remains iconic and an important moment in music history. In the twenty-eight years since, there have not really been too many examples of musicians and artists releasing books and short stories that are as evocative – few that are very memorable at least.
Released in June, Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile’s C.A.L.M. (Crimes Against Love Memories) put me in mind of Madonna’s book:
“'Because a life lived in fear is equal to no life at all'
This is the uncompromising vision of Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile. Fearless and highly erotic, these stories delight in ideas of sexual transgression and liberation, offering a window onto a world where anything is permitted, and everything is safe. As each of Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile's characters break from the bonds of acceptability and enter a darkness of desire, submission and sex, they discover their own humanity, a place where they can truly be free.
A manifesto in the form of erotic photography, monologues and dialogues, Johnny Hostile's stimulating photography punctuates Jehnny Beth's seductive prose. Collapsing the barriers between sex an art while examining the universal values of human existence and consciousness through uninhibited desire, C.A.L.M. established Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile as two of the bravest and most provocative voices in fiction and erotic art today.
The full collection of Johnny Hostile's photography is featured in a hardcover limited-edition photographic art book of C.A.L.M.”
Although there is some degree of liberation of sexual expression in music now, I was listening back to a lot of songs I grew up on, and I think that things have become stricter and it is rare to hear artists being open about their fantasies and sex life - maybe I have been listening to the wrong music!
I have been thinking about the relationship between art, music and literature, and how there seems to be a lack of projects like C.A.LM. I would urge people to buy the book, as it is fascinating to see another side to an artist and, actually, how their passion and creativity can extend beyond the music. Maybe the release of C.A.L.M. is not as media-provoking and shocking as Madonna’s Sex, but it would be good to see more artists like Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile embark on great works like C.A.L.M. I am a little bit late to the party in that respect, but I wanted to shine a spotlight on a book that will, hopefully, compel other artists. In a recent interview with NME, Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile discussed C.A.LM.:
“This is a very C.A.L.M breakfast,” hoots Savages’ vocalist Jehnny Beth as Johnny Hostile, her creative collaborator and long-term partner, wanders into the room peeling a banana. The pair have sat down for (virtual) breakfast in their Paris flat to discuss their new project C.A.L.M. Beth’s quite right; it sets the tone nicely.
Created as a collaboration, the new book Crimes Against Love Memories is a project of two halves. Beth’s collection of lusty short stories explore sex and desire, accompanied by Hostile’s erotic photography (the duo have kindly shared some exclusive images from the NSFW publication with NME).
Her stories are both throughly debauched and artfully surreal, Hostile’s photos drawn from a similarly playful world. The photobook’s most transgressive moments – there are shots showing urination, exhibitionism and various kinks – are interspersed with lighter moments: models decked out in leather harnesses making cups of tea and bare bums poking slightly absurdly through curtains. None of the people pictured in C.A.L.M have modelled before – instead, they’re friends and people that the couple met in Paris and LA.
Do you think some of the images are pornographic?
Jehnny: “Yeah. I mean, there’s female ejaculation, full genitalia. But I don’t think it’s a bad word, just a genre.”
Johnny: “For some people, pornography has a bad definition. I don’t really care. Some of the short stories could be seen as pornographic too; they’re quite graphic. What do you think about that?”
Jehnny: [Laughs] About my pornography? Well, I don’t think of pornography as a bad word. When I use it, I mean it in the good sense – just to describe what a thing is. In the short stories I consciously wanted to flow between genres. I was searching for erotic poetry, years previously to this, when I was writing for Savages. I was on a quest to look for things around [the band’s 2016 album] ‘Adore Life’ – I wanted to know what was out there, and who talks about love and sexuality. I read a lot of gay poetry: it’s so poetic – and then suddenly a throbbing cock!”
Do you each have a favourite photograph from C.A.LM?
Jehnny: “There’s a recurrent theme of buildings with characters naked at the windows: whether it’s in Paris or LA. They’re very distant, and for me it’s a way to see them in a different dimension. I like that change of perspective. I always look up in Paris at the buildings to see if I can see naked people at the window.
Johnny: “The last picture in the whole book is of an ashtray. It has the phrase Act Natural printed on it. We stayed at this place in LA for two months taking photographs, and this ashtray was there all the time – I think it’s a great accident”.
Take an exploration into C.A.L.M., and I hope – as I say – we see more similar works from artists across the board. The new album, TO LOVE IS TO LIVE, provides us an insight into the psyche and heart of Jehnny Beth (and Johnny Hostile), but C.A.L.M. provides us all with…
NEW depth and light.