His photographs treated BDSM with the same dignity as his floral work and portraiture, and introduced a whole debate about how content and form interact with context. Because he was such an esteemed photographer it got a lot of press, and in the process exposed middle America to a lot more BDSM than they imagined existed, effectively introducing the idea that BDSM might not be all that perverted or inaccessible.
He wasn't in the Village People. Tom of Finland drew his own pictures, though he was introduced to and photographed by Mapplethorpe in 1978.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 04:04 am (UTC)He wasn't in the Village People.
Tom of Finland drew his own pictures, though he was introduced to and photographed by Mapplethorpe in 1978.
I'm still giggling at those answers.