The medical art of disturbing Romain Slocombe – Part 1

Young, frail Japanese women covered with scars and bruises, wearing bandages, collars, patches and orthopaedic corsets that give the appearance of having just survived a car accident  are the protagonists of the stunning images  of Romain Slocombe.   Ethereal and quiet, they are equipped with a strange and mysterious beauty that results from the intense contrasts shown: strengths and weakness, pain and calm, beauty and destruction. Romain Slocombe is a Parisian artist who has exhibited his images of “medical art” in galleries all over the world, where it has always been accompanied by a fierce controversy, fuelled by those who do not understand his photographs and see them as misogynistic expressions rather than evincing admiration of female beauty in distress.

Romain Slocombe was born in Paris in 1953, and it was clear from the start that he would devote his life to art in all its expressions. He studied Fine Arts and excelled in different disciplines: drawing, film, comic (with publications in Métal Hurlant), writing, photography …

Beginning in 1977 he began to travel to Japan and quickly became a passionate fan of Japan, enthralled by the aesthetics, culture and language of the country … And also the fascinating and fragile beauty of Japanese women, who would become his main object of study. He also came into contact with the incredible world of Shibari and kinbaku, ie, the Japanese art of erotic bondage, who combined well with his own fetish passion for bandages, orthopaedic corsets and medical paraphernalia. In Tokyo he formed a long and fruitful friendship with the famous Nobuyoshi Araki, one of the best and most prolific Japanese photographers, and with whom he has participated in several joint exhibitions and shot several documentaries.

Slocombe has exhibited throughout the world, but is in Paris where it is easier to follow the steps and find places which exhibit his disturbing photographs with pride. I recommend renting apartments in Paris to see work by this unique artist …

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