Puraibashi (Privacy)

Perhaps the most controversial of Jedinak´s collections stems from his admitted fascination by human sexuality. The scenes of Privacy allow the viewer to become a voyeur in the dark recesses of the bedrooms of  contemporary people. The name Puraibashi and concept for the series derives from his lifelong fascination by Japanese culture, where he observes

“…a great divide between the public and the private. A person´s private life embodies the forbidden, in a direct suspension to their public persona tied by traditions and expectations of society that weigh on them and create perversion. The privacy, or Puraibashi, goes seemingly unacknowledged but it is ever-seeping into the public through works of art. So I decided to point my lens there.”

Jedinak´s signature 1851 technique evokes raw eroticism of the cafés and cabarets of old that saturates the oldest preserved pornographic materials dating back to the dawn of photography. The eroticism here is condensed and unabashed and evokes a visceral response. Scenes from Privacy convey a palette of emotions from humorous and playful to graphic sexual horror. Some of the more curious fetishes may have been documented for the very first time. Despite its openness the imagery is not devoid of mystery. Jedinak presents some fetishes as a verbatim enactment while others in a more veiled symbolic form. One aspect of the mystery is the ubiquitous presence of masks. Without them, he believes, this project could not manifest:

“It´s an integral part of the tradition of unrestrained sexual expression. Masks establish a level playing field. Sex is the great equalizer. When two people undress in front of me, I can´t tell their social status. my models wear masks because they help their expression and also because, for the most part, they can´t afford being seen.”

Jedinak believes finding trust and acceptance for our innermost desires with our sexual partners is hard but life-preserving:

“Sexual fetishism is an act of creativity. It´s a creative force. When you constantly suppress it, you end up maiming yourself.”