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At The Quite Delightful Project, our dream was to create an adult magazine, so stylish and beautiful that instead of being hidden surreptitiously under the mattress it could be left open on a coffee table for anyone to see… …because, quite frankly, you would rather that they did.
Raucous conversations discussing women’s all too evident interest in erotica, the highs and lows of our own sex lives, and, above all, the extent to which none of the existing erotic publications give us what we want, have led to the realisation of the magazine you are holding now.
My desire is to give erotica a new sophistication by creating an ongoing sequence of magazines that celebrate the genre rather than pokes fun at it, which gives it’s readers permission to genuinely enjoy the photography rather than having to laugh away their embarrassment, and which gives creative freedom to the artists by letting them explore their visions with no restrictions. Our determination to take a courageous and fearless approach towards the subject matter – coupled with a conscious and considered desire to push buttons – has resulted in an exhibition of imagery that causes us to take a deep breath and that is, on occasion, unashamedly explicit, compelling us to explore questions about our own attitudes towards sexuality.
By women, for women – the first part is easy: we are a small team of women, working together to produce the magazine that we ourselves would enjoy. The second part refers to a quality of production, and a luxurious quality of publication designed to appeal to a feminine sensibility. If you were expecting 340 pages of oiled muscle men you may be disappointed – sorry but that is personally not to my tastes – however I would direct you to Ferry Van Der Nat’s glorious Polaroids of male dancers (or is that Polaroids of glorious male dancers)? For women also means that the models in our images are clearly collaborating with their photographer, expressing themselves freely, and both working together towards a shared goal.
This collaboration is perhaps most obvious in Jenny Woods’ highly personal portraits of herself and her partner, and perhaps less obvious in the fearless approach of George Pitts’ images of Nettie Harris. Take a moment to read the interview with her, and you are left in no doubt that she is also exploring the realms of her sensuality and sexuality.
One of The Quite Delightful Project’s goals was to create an erotic adult magazine showcasing image-making of a quality rarely seen in this space; alongside thoughtful, provocative or plain entertaining writing that explores in some detail at least one of those subjects that’s not to be discussed over dinner.
Our desire to not shy away from an approach that is always ‘frank and fearless’ is why this launch issue has been published as Quite Frankly; and over the coming months we shall explore other parallel sensibilities. Issue Two, which will be released ahead of Valentine’s Day 2015, will be our Quite Lovely issue, and Issue Three (published late May 2015) will showcase the work of a number of photographers working to create intimate and often daring self-portrait images – this will be our Quite Personal issue.
I do hope that you will come with for us on this particular journey.
Last but not at all least, I must express my great thanks to our community of photographers and artists in what, I hope, will be an ongoing dialogue that we shall continue to share together.