China Hamilton ~ Lust For Life
“A great man does not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to happiness, and what he ascertains, he gives to others.”
Robert Green Ingersoll
I had the sad task of attending the funeral of a remarkable and beautiful man. A good friend. China Hamilton. A man indeed with a lust for life, a free thinker who moved in avant-garde artistic circles, was a well known regular on the fetish scene, and at home enjoyed a somewhat unconventional social life 🙂
China was so many things, brilliant, creative, quirky – unique. A true polymath – artist, poet, musician, engineer, bodhisattva but his lasting achievement was as a leading erotic art photographer. His work sublimely examined the darker side of female sexuality and erotic power exchange. It was not only hugely influential to other artists but also within the emerging throng of alternative lifestyles. His photographs were challenging and erotic with their risqué subject matters. There was no internet back then and images of female sexuality were heavily censored or for male titillation. China also strove to produce beautiful, unique pieces of creative work. Images were not mass reprinted, each one was lovingly printed onto copper sheets or handmade watercolour paper using complex photographic process that he developed and pioneered. Creating a style that is completely unique and distinctive.
His work ‘sort-of’ reminded me of early daguerreotypes, they shimmer and and change in the light. Each print is unique even when using the same negative. It’s also why when you look at versions of his photographic art reproduced on the web it just can’t do them justice. I remember a series of photos where I worked alongside China, we printed my image onto huge copper sheets. Then drew my blood to write my musings or quotes from the Marquis de Sade over the prints as they set.
China Hamilton 1946 – 2018
