Skip to main content

Bishopsgate Institute

  • What's on
  • Learn
  • Archives
  • Hire
  • Visit
  • Give
  • LogoutLogin
  • My Account
  • Basket
  • Search
  • Open Menu.

Bishopsgate Institute

SearchClose
  • LogoutLogin
  • My Account
  • Basket
  • What's on
  • Learn
  • Archives
  • Hire
  • Visit
  • Give
  • Take me to...

    Explore our online events
  • Watch our lunchtime concerts
  • Discover our archives
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Join mailing list

More Site Pages

  • About
  • News
  • Work with us
  • Press

Legal Pages

  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Site Map
  • Contact

Contact Details

230 Bishopsgate
London
EC2M 4QH
020 7392 9200enquiries@bishopsgate.org.uk

Small Print

Copyright © 2021 Bishopsgate Foundation. Registered Charity No: 1090923. Website by Supercool
Return to main

Black Dahlia Archive

2020

  1. Archives
  2. UK Leather and Fetish Archive

About this Archive

Administrative/Biographical History

Black Dahlia is an EBM/industrial producer based on Gadigal Land, Australia. Living in Belgium and Düsseldorf in her early years, Black Dahlia’s vision and inspirations were set in stone from the beginning. Hearing echoes of New Beat and the memories of dark streets, she was inspired by this sound and in her early teens began to produce synth pop.

Immersing herself deeper into goth music artists such as The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Joy Division, and Depeche Mode, she also began to fall in love with gothic fashion which would then lead to her deep interest in fetish fashion/culture. Her teenage years were identified by wearing 80’s shoulder-padded jackets with avant-garde makeup, engaging in performance art/dance/music, and consistent engagement with theatre. The attraction to becoming different personas everyday eventually led to her current project.

In recent years, she has been performing in Sydney, Australia as Black Dahlia - an EBM/Industrial project which features dark, gothic live sets with distorted, empowering vocals. Releasing on labels such as Up North Records (Au), Deep Scan (Au), Insane Industry (Italy), Idlestates (Scotland), and soon to be Motorik Records (Au), and Berlin label X-IMG, run by EBM artist Sarin. She has supported lineups of artists such as Rebel Yell, Kobosil, Paula Temple, SPFDJ, SNTS, Boston 168, and Adriana Lopez, and has also played at festivals such as Antigravity and Trench.

Her upcoming EP being released on X-IMG, Animasochist, is an exploration of sex, fetishism, and empowerment through those mediums. Various samples from vintage sexploitation and pornographic films, interviews about fetishism, and 80s films, it is paired with the sounds of New Beat and EBM, which has become Black Dahlia's signature sound.

Producing dark, industrial music has inspired Black Dahlia’s path into fetish fashion and culture by finding solace in leather, latex, and fishnets. “Being surrounded by sex worker friends has opened my eyes to a world of possibilities and forms of empowerment for myself. I feel most empowered when in leather and fetish clothing. It, for me, is a strong form of armour and inspiration for myself, as well as an erotic pleasure of mine. It goes hand in hand with my music - both fetish fashion/culture and my music is a form of healing for my trauma, and strength for me.” - Black Dahlia

Scope and Content

Archive of artist Black Dahlia, including four promotional photographs by George Popov and four mp3s of music (including tracks, Dead Box, Flexx, Ricoche Holly and Self S'Abattoir), 2020.

Quantity

Four jpg files, four mp3 files


Discover more about the UK Leather and Fetish Archive

Listen to our interview with Buster (Mr Leather UK 2019)

The two people who run London Vagabond. The man on the left is taking a photo, and the woman is sitting next to him, both looking at the camera.

Learn more about fetishists The London Vagabond

SM Pride March on 28 November 1992. Protestors are holding a banner that says "Countdown on spanner" with a police officer ahead of the protestors.

Explore the Countdown on Spanner Archive


  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email

UK Leather and Fetish Archive Go to this category page.

SM Pride March on 28 November 1992. Protestors are holding a banner that says "Countdown on spanner" with a police officer ahead of the protestors.

Countdown on Spanner Archive

1984 – 1998

Delia Vair Archive

2016-2020

Magdalena Piech Archive

2017 – 2020

Black Dahlia Archive

2020

Luca Federici Archive

2018-2019

Matt Spike Archive

2014-2018

An image of Alex Rueda from the UK Leather and Fetish Archive.

Alex Rueda Archive

2017-2020

A photo of Mistress Eva wearing black heels, a leather corset, leather hat and gloves. She is lying on white flooring, with a shadow behind her.

Mistress Eva Archive

2012-2020

An image of Mistress Absolute, wearing a leather jacket. Her hair is dark and curly, and she is looking to her right, with her hands on her hips.

Mistress Absolute Archive

2003-2019

Find More UK Leather and Fetish Archive

A photo recreating the Beatles image along Abbey Road, but this image is of four people wearing leather suits. At the top of the image it says: "London Fetish weekend 2014".

London Fetish Weekend Archive

2008-2018

A person is lying on a wooden floor in a leather outfit and mask. It says on the image: "Subversion, Bank Holiday Bender".

Club Subversion Archive

2005-2018

The Skin Two Collection magazines resting against each other.

Skin Two Rubber Ball Archive

2004-2007

The two people who run London Vagabond. The man on the left is taking a photo, and the woman is sitting next to him, both looking at the camera.

The London Vagabond Archive

2017-

An image of Peter Freeman wearing a bow tie and a suit, and holding a stick between his hands.

Peter Freeman Collection

1997-2020

China Hamilton Archive (Subba Hamilton)

Bill Ward Archive

1927-1996

Club RUB Archive

1996-2017

MSC London / London Leathermen

Formed in 1973

MSC Bournemouth Archive

Formed in February 1986

Midland Link MSC

Founded in 1974

MSC Hallamshire

MSC Scotland

Established in 1974

London Blues

Founded in 1978

Sixty Nine Club

#FROMTHE ARCHIVES

Married in 1950, Chris and Betty Birch have been involved in political, trade union, and LGBTQ+ activism for over 60 years. Sharing similar interests, they were both Communist Party Members and involved with organisations such as the Aid to Spanish Youth Committee. After the death of his friend, Mark Ashton, Chris became involved in forming the Mark Ashton Memorial Trust, which was created to raise money for individuals living with HIV. The archive includes the truncheon taken from the police by Mark Ashton, correspondence, personal scrapbooks, press cuttings, and various other papers relating to the couples activism.
Find out more about the Chris and Betty Birch Archive

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Join mailing list

More Site Pages

  • About
  • News
  • Work with us
  • Press

Legal Pages

  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Site Map
  • Contact

Contact Details

230 Bishopsgate
London
EC2M 4QH
020 7392 9200enquiries@bishopsgate.org.uk

Small Print

Copyright © 2021 Bishopsgate Foundation. Registered Charity No: 1090923. Website by Supercool