Art as burlesque as art … a tour of how burlesque shapes art and vice versa

Burlesque photo portraiture

The work of Nisha Sondhe, a photographer, might not be familiar to you, but her latest portrait series is an intensely personal one. It records here experience of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

What makes the exhibition quite exceptional is the way that Sondhe combines photography and art to create vivid imagery of the experience of chemotherapy and also that her models for this photo series are all burlesque and cabaret performers. Our photo, for example, The Incredible Edible Akynos sitting crosslegged on a kitchen table and illustrates Sondhe’s experience of eating whatever she felt like being about the only positive experience she had during chemotherapy. Painted on heart-shaped pasties and a graphic representation of a pizza slice add a surreal sense to the picture which serve to illuminate the way that chemo changes the senses for the person undergoing it.

Why burlesque performers? It seems their larger-than-life alter egos are ideal for engaging the eye and creating vivid imagery that conveys a real sense of the effects of chemotherapy.

 Burlesque troupe discovers self-acceptance

Then there’s the new burlesque troupe put together by Auralie Wilde, in Iowa. After a decade of hoofing it in burlesque troops in New York, she’s returned to her hometown to explore the role of burlesque not just as entertainment but as performance art. Her performers have all taken a journey of personal discovery to identify a burlesque persona they are ready to offer to an audience and Wilde says while it’s ‘the rebellious nature inherent to the show that draws an audience’ there’s an equally compelling reason for the performers to opt for burlesque which is that they undergo a process of personal investigation that gives them an opportunity to validate their own identity, explore audience engagement in a raw and unequivocal fashion and the antithesis of body-shaming or coercive approaches to appearance, behaviour and sexuality.

It sounds like quite a heavy deal, doesn’t it? But in fact this is the process that every burlesque performer goes through, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. From plus sized dancers to gender-defying costuming, from accepting and inclusive programming, through to affirmative audience feedback, burlesque is seen by almost every performer as a life-enhancing experience, although the early stages of developing personal acceptance can be quite challenging.

What we noticed about both these stories is the confident self-awareness of all the performers mentioned - their direct gaze to camera, their comfortable relationship with the viewer, their carefully curated appearance that neither hides nor controls their personalities but rather offers a change to frame their individuality, these are the things that we often observe in boudoir photographs where people chose their burlesque costume to enhance their sense of self. One of the best sellers we have in this regard is our black velvet pirate coat which isn’t just an ideal clothing choice for burlesque performance but makes the perfect photographic background - offering a confident and elegant outfit for portraiture.