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- Fundraising for The Outsiders Trust (Charity Registration No. 283350). BCM Box Lovely, London WC1N 3XX.
The Erotic Awards Exhibition at the Trolley Gallery began with a Private View on Tuesday 29th August. The Invitation was kindly designed by Warm, Rain and wine was supplied by Blue Nun. Local bagels were consumed. The front window of the Gallery was backed by a huge photograph of the front of Sunset Strip, taken by Julie Cook. Performance artist Lily Dumont, The Teasmaids and Mr Bear Beauty performed to an appreciative audience. An after-party took place in the White Horse with striptease performances by Chiqui and Lolita.
The exhibition was designed by Julie Cook, Dr Kathy Batista and Tracey Ferguson, and ran from 30th August to 24th September. We would like to thank Hannah and gg at Trolley for giving us their beautiful space. The exhibition was covered by Grayson Perry in the Times and featured on the front page of Talk of the Town in the Independent on Sunday.
Grayson wrote,
"What I found was a curiously heartwarming display of what is hot and socially innovative in the sex industry . . . the emphasis seems to be on originality and social responsibility. This is exemplified by one nominee who runs a website electroman.com.au. He partially finances a hospice in India for terminal cancer sufferers by selling special electrodes he has developed for genital stimulation . . . It is this fulfilling of everyone's human needs that I find so endearing. The awards will be given out at the Night of the Senses on September 2, a huge event described as the "Glastonbury of sex" where many of the nominees will also perform. Proceeds go to Outsiders, a charity led by Dr Tuppy Owens, which for 27 years has been helping disabled people to find relationships.
"All this is a long way from the orchestrated outrage about the sex industry in the tabloids, what Owens calls "double porn" in that the reader is twice rewarded, once for sharing in the disgust and once for being titillated by the porn itself. Owens tells me that PayPal has suspended the ticket sales for the Night of the Senses on the grounds of obscenity, which sums up the stigma still surrounding and exploration of sexuality.
"It would be interesting if the awards were taken seriously and screened on the telly, like the Booker or the Turner. I imagine the dinner party conversations: "I don't normally use male escorts but I thought I should try out all the nominees in the Male Sex Worker of the Year category so that I had an informed opinion.
"I left the exhibition in the afterglow not of sexual arousal or artistic inspiration, but with a good humoured respect for certain quarters of the world much misunderstood.
"Tuppy Owens and co have a healthy and responsible attitude to an industry that has always been with us and is not going to go away. They ignore the mainstream gloss and celebrate the innovative niches and, dare I say it, the good people in a gloriously mucky business."
Photos by Tania Glyde.
