Picture yourself at a barbeque with 50 folks who are chowing down on hot dogs, sipping beer and engaging in small talk. Now picture yourself having sex with them. Or, if you’re not feeling that adventurous, pick up the new collection from photographer—and Heeb contributing editor—Naomi Harris.
Her subjects in America Swings: Swinging Sex Lives of Everyday Americans (Taschen Books) are hardly the haughty, selective group you might remember from Eyes Wide Shut. They are the stereotypical Americans you might associate with RVs, Super Bowl parties and all-you-can-eat buffets.
The book, which features a forward by Richard Prince, depicts 38 swinger parties, which Harris captured over a three-year period. They were couplesonly parties, with exceptions made only for “Mandingos” (African-American men entrusted with the task of servicing white wives) and Harris herself. Crisscrossing the country, documenting multi-orgasmic schoolteachers, polyamorous nurses and bisexual senior citizens took its toll on Harris. She put her love life on hold while shooting. “Plus, my libido was killed,” the Toronto-born photographer adds.
Harris won the confidence of her subjects by frequently photographing them while she was wearing nothing but shoes and a tool belt to hold her camera gear. Plus, she agreed that if any of her subjects felt uneasy about the prints, she wouldn’t include them in the collection.
Don’t worry—the Mandingos are still in there.
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