Once a month in the penthouse of the Standard, Downtown LA, a group of people get together to communicate about sex and love. Pillow Talk is the name of the event, organized and hosted by Fiona Duncan—it’s designed to create and reinforce community. In May, model Tzef Montana, stylist Autumn Randolph, and photographer Jasper Briggs helped lead an extra experimental Pillow Talk. A select audience was invited to participate in a group portrait shoot. The idea was to practice active consent, communication, and respect, to explore how photographic portraiture is similar to other intimate encounters, like hookups. (Bodies on bodies, vulnerability, exposure.) A dozen-plus people, some with experiencing modelling, but mostly not, showed up. Randolph dressed the lot in local unisex designers Eckhaus Latta and No Sesso, accessorizing with products from Pillow Talk’s sex-toy sponsor, Doc Johnson. Montana coached everyone to pose for Briggs’ two cameras, as Duncan double-checked that the shy felt alright. Here are some images from that night.
Catch the next Pillow Talk & Hard to Read event in Toronto on July 6th. RSVP to fad@hardtoread.us for details.
Tzef and co. by Jasper Briggs for Pillow Talk
Photos by Jasper Briggs
Catch the next Pillow Talk & Hard to Read event in Toronto on July 6th. RSVP to fad@hardtoread.us for details.