About this Archive

Administrative/Biographical History

Delia Vair is a visual creator exploring the dynamic of fetish, BDSM, and the self. Largely influenced by Japanese rope bondage (Kinbaku) and the metaphoric imagery of the gothic, she aims to capture moments of emotional intensity in human encounters.

The core of her work visually explores the facets of vulnerability, abandonment, endurance and release within kinbaku. Being a latex fetishist, she also has an interest in capturing the liberating passion that comes with the transformation of the human body into a bizarre object of deviant fantasy.

As transgender and nonconformist, she is drawn to a visual language that deviates from the norm in the BDSM and fetish media canon. In her opinion the visual representation of kink can be informed by a multitude of influences, mainly the arts, nature but also media and technology, and the chaos of life itself. She works as a creative professional with a background in design, architecture, and philology.

Delia Vair entered the kink scene in the early 2000s but lost connection to it due to a dominating rigidity and dogmatism within the scene at the time. It was not until 2015 in London that she reconnected to it through Kinbaku/Shibari. As a model and later as a rigger she got immersed in the world of erotic rope torture, called Semenawa. Through travels she connected with rope artists and educators within Europe, many of whom had a lasting impact on her path as a rigger.

She initiated and contributed to various photographic collaborations in the realm of Kinbaku and fetish. These inspired her to use photography herself as a medium to express the emotionality and beauty in kink encounters. She found narrative cinematic photography to be her preferred way of expression. Reflecting on her own journey the topics of loneliness, melancholia, and alienation are often part of her work.

Scope and Content

Extensive photographic archive of Delia Vair, including extensive photographic and project work showing kinbaku (Japanese rope bondage) and other kink and fetish imagery (2016-2020).