Leather is about flesh: skin on skin, peeling back skin to reveal what’s underneath. Leathersex entails the transgression of borders, opening those involved to intimacy, invasion, infection. Perhaps this is why medical fetishism and body modification have gripped leather imaginaries over time, both in the practice of leathersex and in the creative work of artists in the leather community. Through a live performance, visual activation, and material archive, Empress Wu, Laura Westengard, and KING COBRA will explore leather as a sexual and aesthetic practice. Together they will muse on abjection, human-object intimacy, skin as a barrier, and medical fetishism.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

This event is part of Power of Leather, a series of in-person dialogues, interactive performances, and community events exploring leathersex, sadomasochism, and leather culture. The series is presented by CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at CUNY, and organized by Laura Westengard and Kassandra Sparks. You can find the full lineup here.

RSVP:

RSVP is required for in-person and virtual attendance. Tell your friends, students, study group members, Doms, subs, pups, kittens, toys, Mommies, and Daddies and invite them all to join. In-person capacity is limited, so please arrive early!

ACCESSIBILITY:

There is a ramp and electric door to enter the building. There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms on every floor.
Only some bathrooms are gender neutral.
Microphones and a sound system will project audio for in-person attendees.
ASL interpretation will be provided for all attendees (in-person and virtual). Live captioning will also be available on our virtual livestream.
Chair and floor seating will be available, as well as space to stand. Chairs will be moveable and have backs.
Wearing masks is encouraged. Attendees are also encouraged to test beforehand and stay home if they are feeling unwell.

BETWEEN LEATHER & ACADEMIA:

These events straddle two worlds that are often kept separate, despite their many unspoken overlaps: the leather community and academia. Our goal is to create a space that is welcoming to those with experience in academia, leather and queer communities, or all of the above.

If you are a leather or queer person with little (or no) experience in academic settings, we hope these events offer you a different forum to discuss leather culture. We will do our best to keep language accessible, and we invite you to ask questions and/or participate in discussions.
If you are an academic or student with little (or no) exposure to leather culture, we hope these events introduce you to new frameworks for understanding queerness, queer publics, identity, and desire. We will do our best to flag explicit or controversial conversations. We encourage you to sit with discomfort that might arise and remain curious about it.

SPEAKER BIOS:

KING COBRA, known online as the silicon don, lives and works in Philadelphia. Since graduating from RISD with an MFA in glass in 2014, COBRA has created corporeal sculptures—that utilize glass alongside silicone, beads, crystals, rubber, synthetic hair, mysterious goo, and other materials—to explore the frequently suppressed and traumatic histories of medical exploitation of the Black body, as well as diseases spread by White Europeans during the transatlantic slave trade. Her most recent solo exhibitions include WHITE MEAT at JTT Gallery NY(2023), REVOLTED at the New Museum NY(2022), Pale in Comparison at The SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2022) and Steal Kill and Destroy: A Thief Who Intended Them Maximum Harm -HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark (2021) In addition to her sculptural practice, she is also a body modifier and filmmaker. Tattoo is an extension of her explorations in flesh, mark making, and the relationship between image physical pain.

Laura Westengard (she/they) is a Professor of English and Coordinator of Gender & Sexuality Studies at the City University of New York. She also serves on the Board of Directors of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies and sits on the Advisory Board for the journal WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, the Editorial Board for the Peter Lang book series Vampire Studies: New Perspectives on the Undead, and is the co-editor of the Fall 2024 special issue of WSQ on "Unbearable Being(s).” She was featured in Vanity Fair’s VF Reviews “Vampire Expert Reviews Vampires In Movies & TV” and works regularly with Morbid Anatomy, offering illustrated lectures and hosting a Summer Goth Book Club. Her book, Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma, shows how queer culture adopts gothicism to challenge heteronormative and racialized systems and practices and to acknowledge the effects of microaggression and insidious trauma on queer communities.

Empress Wu (all pronouns, b. 1997) is an NYC-based artist and activist hailing from Houston, Texas. Their work is about the performance of intimacy, explored through digital landscapes, queer SM, sexual labor, ancestral ritual, conflict and more. They hold an MA in Arts Politics from NYU (2020) and a BA in Art History and International Relations from the University of Texas at Austin (2017). They and their work have appeared in various institutions such as MoMA PS1, Brown University, the Performa Biennial, MoCA LA and more.

If you have any questions or need any support, email info@clags.org.

Contact the host of CLAGS Presents: The Abject: A Performance by Empress Wu