Yes it is already time for the April prompt. This year is zooming by fast. Check out all the details on Sinful Sunday April Prompt.
In the meantime it is my great pleasure to welcome the fabulous Emmeline Peaches to the round-up. You can find her on her own blog Emmeline Peaches Reviews and on Twitter @EmmelinePeaches
Emmeline’s Top 5 Pics of the Week
Recently I found myself at the Victoria and Albert Museum admiring the collection of historical attire while accompanied by a wonderfully spooky femme and the most marvellously darling individual I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.
Together we admired the beautiful adornments that people had worn throughout the years. We found clothes we wanted to own, and clothes we wanted other to wear just so we could tear them off of their bodies and fuck as if time had no meaning.
In amongst it all I also caught glimpse of the most beautiful portrait. It was of a woman (if I might be so bold as to assume gender)—radiant and pure in the elegance of her stature. She stared out from the portrait with a coy smile, letting the viewer know that she had considered her own image something worth preserving in painstakingly exquisite portraiture.
And in that moment I thought “Criticism of selfie culture is bullshit”.
I won’t have been the first person to say this (nor will I be the most succinct in my ramblings) but have someone paint your image, photograph it, or in any other way preserve your form and it is widely considered to be ‘art’. Take a candid or considered shot yourself and suddenly it’s considered vanity.
No.
This amazing woman, who stared back at me had spent a presumably extortionate amount of money (and time) making sure that her image was preserved in its most attractive form for all to see. She would have, no doubt, displayed this image as a status symbol as well as personally admired it and that is friggin’ awesome.
The admiration she felt is one that I can mirror and it’s one I hope every single person who decides that their body is worth preserving in image feels and it is one that I hope each Sinful Sunday entrant can personally relate to.
As I looked through the entries this month (and at those from prior months) I found no vanity. Not a single ounce of narcissism. Nor did I expect to.
What I did find was strong individuals, stunning curvature, beautiful insights, poetic vulnerabilities, and (of course) art in its purest form—that of the self.
It almost breaks my heart to say that I can only select five ‘favourites’ to showcase to you all, when each piece was profoundly evocative in its own way. But there are rules and I have nothing but respect for the wonderful conventions of this fantastic collective. So, without further ado, here are my Sinful Sunday picks for your viewing pleasure.
You may have heard the saying ‘painting with light’ but Marie Rebelle embodies the phrase in this amazing piece. Marie was debating which image looks best from the natural and edited version and, although both are absolutely stunning, I have to go with the natural one.
The rich hues of the candle’s glow are perfectly contrasted with the deep shadows cast by the darkness of the room. Together these two elements hug Marie’s body in a manner that is simultaneously inviting and intimate.
It welcomes the eye but denies the touch. Just a glimpse—a flicker of insight. And yet it offers everything it needs to.
Cuuuuuuurvessssss!
*Ahem*
Going back to a more professional demeanour, there is an innate aesthetic appeal in this image for me. The curvature of the female form is something that has always caught my eye and brought a huge grin to my face, and Exposing40 and their friend have read my mind with the bold exclamation ‘WOW’ plastered bombastically over their most intimate areas.
This image also has a socially potent context which deserves attention. WOW is the Women of the World festival—a conglomeration of influential activists and passionate allies in the cause of championing women and their achievements.
All of this is brilliantly encapsulated in the playful confidence of the image and finished off with the wonderful poses of the two individuals featured. What is there to say except…wow.
‘Make your feet take you where your heart wants to go!’
What a lovely little mantra! And when your heart wants to adorn your feet in some of the most satisfying rope ties I’ve seen in a while then I must agree with a wholehearted nod.
Aurora Glory suggests that she is ‘awful’ because her love of rope comes from the sheer attractiveness of the practice, but I personally think this s something that Aurora embodies to the splendour. The antonym of ‘awful’.
The symmetrical appeal of the rope is contrasted here with the beautifully imperfect asymmetry of Aurora’s toes, which subtly remind us of the delicate familiarity of the human form.
All-in-all it’s one absolutely mesmerizing piece and I can barely prize my gaze away from it.
The delight of having a new toy. The skip of excitement as you glance it across your body. The anticipation of that biting moment to come next, less than a hair away. So close you can already see it. Feel it. Living for the moment.
That moment has been brilliantly captured in Bibblybobbily’s contribution this week. The macro detail is so precise that I can almost place myself in the moment, imagining the sensations.
This ability to immerse the viewer is, for many, the key to all great art, and New Toys has definitely reached this achievement.
There is a softness to this image. A subtlety that gentle urges the viewer to glance, if they wish, at where the light falls.
It is a beautiful invitation—handsome, confident, and daring. The posture, the turn, and the slight clenching of the fist implying that we have caught Skinography at an inopportune moment, but everything else suggesting that we are exactly where they want us to be.
Will images such as this one day hang at the V&A? Framed by cravats and floral nightgowns. God I hope so.
