“Each tradition has its magnificence requirements that are ever-changing, however even the West has fairly slender views of what’s stunning.”
Not like a typical wall calendar, Leese’s “Yr of the Dragon 2024” is made up of a collection of photographic prints that may be displayed in any sequence based on one’s desire. All 350 copies offered out inside every week of its mid-November launch.
Leese says that, for a very long time, Asian faces have been utilized in “a really particular method” in vogue, her essential skilled discipline.
Younger bare girls are their canvas – Hong Kong artists’ erotic nude artwork
Younger bare girls are their canvas – Hong Kong artists’ erotic nude artwork
“It’s difficult and layered, however it probably began on the idea of making an attempt to promote merchandise and never from a real place to diversify,” she explains, including that a whole lot of manufacturers take their cues from China, a big and more and more worthwhile market with its personal particular guidelines of what’s thought of interesting.
Leese says she wished to discover the range of magnificence inside East Asian tradition that is probably not represented in vogue pictures or the industrial work she does.
She hand-picked the calendar’s fashions for his or her inventive personalities and provoking power. Half of them she already knew, resembling Mizuhara, and a few of them turned new associates via the undertaking.
For Leese, the dragon has plenty of qualities that remind her of many ladies in her life – fierce, playful, sturdy, highly effective, tenacious – “however additionally they have this facet to them that’s deeply rooted in nature and kindness.”
She needs to painting a wider spectrum of Asian femininity than what’s often depicted, but additionally to honour how every girl needs to precise their sexuality and create one thing that feels joyful and liberating.
Earlier than capturing the fashions, she reached out to them individually to determine what they felt comfy with; she averted instructing her topics on the spot after they have been in a weak place.
“We had a whole lot of conversations about how to not make it overly suggestive and guaranteeing it’s respectful to how the ladies wish to be proven. The expression of sexuality could be very private, which makes it so fascinating to navigate,” she says.
Leese has all the time discovered erotic imagery intriguing.
“There’s a whole lot of disgrace connected to sexuality. Being open and direct about it and doing it effectively – for me, it challenges that disgrace and makes it actually thrilling to have a look at.”
Images has all the time been a male-dominated area, even – or maybe particularly – in works that function feminine nudes. By capturing Asian feminine sexuality in an erotic calendar – a conventional conference of the male gaze – Leese says that it seems like “taking again management”, turning the “dragon” on its head.
The “dragon” in query is the trope of the “dragon girl”, a often derogatory stereotype of East and Southeast Asian girls as fierce, crafty and sexually alluring.
In Western media, these femme-fatale figures are sometimes exploited as promiscuous intercourse objects, resembling Anna Could Wong, who was solely forged in supporting roles for many of her profession within the early twentieth century. Newer examples are characters performed by Chinese language-American actor Lucy Liu in Payback (1999), Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Kill Invoice (2003).
“They have been in all probability simply actually highly effective girls, and folks obtained intimidated by them and created this ‘dragon girl’ stereotype,” Leese says.
The calendar additionally serves as a nod to her Chinese language zodiac and the legendary animal she was “obsessed” with as a toddler. Leese was born in Hong Kong within the Yr of the Dragon, to an English father and a Hong Kong Chinese language mom.
“I feel my expertise of rising up in a multicultural family with two completely different views gave me a want to query issues extra and be extra open to differing opinions, which are usually formed by your background, tradition and experiences,” she says.
Shifting to the UK at age 12 was the primary time I ever felt othered … I attempted to cover part of me in some methods
In 2019, she revealed Yumi and the Moon, a zine of mystical nude portraits impressed by an historical Japanese people story a few girl from the moon and her temporary descent to Earth. The zine’s sole topic, mannequin and artist Yumi Carter, is among the 13 girls within the “Yr of the Dragon 2024” calendar.
“These initiatives are a private exploration of desirous to additional perceive that facet of myself and the cultural and societal expectations I’ve skilled, however it’s additionally the need to have a good time that a part of me,” Leese says.
“Shifting to the UK at age 12 was the primary time I ever felt othered – though I’m blended, individuals recognized me as an Asian girl. I attempted to cover part of me in some methods.
“Rising out of that disgrace and celebrating that a part of me has been a very essential facet of my work.”
