This series operates at the intersection of visual culture, queer theory, and fetish semiotics. Drawing on Hal Fischer’s foundational work Gay Semiotics (1977), these black-and-white portraits recontextualise the semiotic codes of leather and kink within a contemporary framework. Each subject is photographed in stark, film noir-inspired lighting — a deliberate invocation of secrecy, surveillance, and subversion that historically shaped queer visual representation.
The images are accompanied by short personal texts in which each participant reflects on the emotional, erotic, or symbolic resonance of a single item they wear. These statements interrupt the often-objectifying lens through which kink is publicly viewed, centring lived experience, intimacy, and relational meaning. In doing so, the work challenges the aesthetic detachment of classical portraiture, replacing it with a methodology rooted in co-authorship and embodied presence.
By staging these subjects within a high-contrast, studio-based mise-en-scène, the series draws attention to the theatricality of identity — not as artifice, but as deliberate performance. The stark monochrome palette enhances the sculptural presence of leather, metal, and skin, while gesturing toward the historic visual vocabulary of queer resistance: cruising, codes, concealment, and revelation.
Leather Semiotics becomes both a documentation and an intervention — a visual archive that foregrounds the politics of adornment and the queer body as a site of power, vulnerability, and encoded communication. Here, the fetish object is not merely accessory but semiotic apparatus: a language of survival, desire, and kinship worn in plain sight.
T
hough it doesn’t feature in my everyday wardrobe anymore, there was a time when I wore my chain daily like armour. Not as a symbol of submission to a dom but as a quiet, heavy reminder of my values and my chosen family. When anxiety gripped me or the world felt too heavy, the cold weight of that chain reminded me I wasn’t alone. In the early leather scenes, chains were both decoration and declaration for me, they became a lifeline.
A padlock might seem simple — just a way to link a chain — but for me, it does so much more. It binds together the parts of me that often feel scattered, keeping me grounded, whole.
- QUINCY YOUNG
T
hen I look back on my club patches, I look back on my association with the club and the milestones I made as part of service to the club. For example with my London Leathermen and European Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (ECMC) patches, I look back on when I was Mr. Leather London, and Mr. Leather Europe. I look back on the people affiliated with the clubs, and how they have positively changed my leather journey.
I am a total switch. On one day I can be a total top, one day I can be a total bottom and some days I can wear hankies on both sides in order to give a sign to people on what gets me going. My hanky colours are Teal (CBT), yellow (piss), black (S/M) and dark blue (anal sex).
My waistcoat is filled with club patches and the memories of those who kindly gave me the patches. I wear my vest with pride over my bare skin or over my leather shirt. It “finishes” my leather outfits.
- TOM
I have a pair of metal handcuffs which I keep for my Boy, who lives in Germany. I wear my keys on the left as a dominant sign that he is mine, and I am there to support him no matter the distance between us.
- TOM
T
he patch is more than fabric — it’s my family, my history, my legacy. It marks my title year, a time filled with memories, friendships, and chosen kin. It’s something I earned, something I poured my heart into, through every high and every hard moment. When I wear it, I wear every story stitched into it. The patch isn’t just something I own — it’s something that reflects who I am. The patch is me.
Chaps are just hot everything exposed, nothing to hide. They shape and hold the arse perfectly. For me, chaps are freedom, sex, and pride.
- QUINCY YOUNG
T
he leather jacket is the pivotal moment in my leather journey. The first ime I tried on my father’s leather jacket, I knew instantly that leather and I were meant to be one! And Oh Boy I was right!
The leather jacket provide my with full coverage which is also one of fetishes. The smell, the creaking sounds, its black colour! all of those aspects put me in playful mood!
- KAISER
T here’s something almost spiritual in the way floggers move — the rhythm, the sound, the flow. Mine aren’t just toys; they’re instruments of expression. Each strike is a beat in a dance that lets me reclaim power, release, and feel beautiful. Flogging has roots in ancient ritual and theatre, but for me, it’s about presence, power, and pleasure.
- QUINCY YOUNG
T
To have your neck feel constrained by a collar or weighed down by chains speaks to the sensuality of fetishwear. It’s part of a state of mind, of feeling geared up and ready for show.
A lead is the accessory of a dog, and you can have fun with that: wearing an authentic dog’s collar and lead to immerse yourself in pup headspace, or replacing the nylon with metal chains and a leather strap to absorb their symbolisms and weight.
- DASH
W
hen I wear my Muir Cap, I not only see myself as a dominant, but I see myself as a respectable Leatherman…. somebody who tips their hat off to the past. When I started research into the Leather and kink world, I noticed plenty of videos from the 70s/80s, and how many men were wearing their Muir Caps with pride. Wearing a Muir Cap in public is a sign of being proud, and how us Leather folk are to be seen as confidant in our own skin.
My tall shiny leather boots have hit the grounds of so many countries and places during my time as a titleholder. When I see my boots, I am reminded of how they guarded my feet along so many good and bad days as a Leatherman.
- TOM
M
uir caps fills me with much powerful energy! It is like I could do anything with it on! It is like I could conquer the leather world and beyond. In my case, I purchased it myself (New Guard) however some of my muir caps were gifts from friends so they hold a strong sentimental value.
A septum piercing, ear piercings (both ears) combined with leather are an act of rebellion against the Status Quo. It took me a while to get my piercings but I love them. They are now part of me. I wear my septum to work!
- KAISER
B oots ground you. Worn, polished, worshiped they are a pillar of Leather identity. Tall, sturdy, commanding, they speak of masculinity and power. The act of bootblackingcleaning, shining, honouring a dominant’s boots isn’t just service; it’s an intimate exchange, a ritual of respect.
- ZACH
M y hood takes me away from the problems of life and into a more carefree headspace where I’m closer to my instincts and able to express my affection, joy and desire for others far more naturally. When I meet another pup, it’s easy to get along as if we all have an intrinsic bond. A harness allows your body to be grabbed, pushed and pulled and moved with just one grip. The thrill of wearing a harness is giving to someone else that power over you, letting them use it as a tool to exert their dominance, excite you, pull you in or drag you to your knees.
- DASH
T he feeling of hands sliding down your slick rubber body, latex gliding over latex, the sensation transmitting across your skin. Rubber is shiny, slick and colourful, an outfit in its own right or a transformation of your skin into a shiny black exoskeleton. I love how rubber feels diMerent from any other material, hugs every part of the body and lights up every interaction you make while wearing it.
- DASH
G ear to me is more than clothing. Gear is part of my essence, my being as much as limbs or my intellect. I need to wear it at all times. Gear makes me feel authentic, unapologetic, daring! It takes balls to wear gear out-fear of judgement -fear of negative comments -fear of physical aggression- so I guess I’ve got big balls.
E asy to say gear, to me, is a lifestyle a way of belonging that goes deeper than words. It connects me to my identity, my community, and the parts of myself I’ve fought to embrace. It’s not just what I wear it’s who I am.
A deep personal connection I have with my gear is that it resonates with the history of Leather folk who have looked after it over the decades. It equally reminds me of sexual liberation and the queer movement in a normalised society.
R ubber, leather, and gear let me paint my body the way I want it to be seen (and potentially used). It brings out my playful pup persona, makes me feel confident as a shiny rubber man, and gives someone a harness strap which they can tug on when we’re exploring each other. Gear to me means individuality, self-expression and confidence.
GEAR
Royal College of Art Gallery
This series was exhibited as part of the RCA2025 Graduate Show in the Dyson Building at the Royal College of Art, Battersea. Presented within the Photography MA studios, the work formed the final major project of my Master’s degree. The exhibition brought together emerging artists from the School of Arts & Humanities, offering a dynamic space to engage with contemporary themes through a range of creative practices.
Open to the public, curators, and industry professionals, the show attracted widespread attention and critical acclaim.
Art Plugged described the showcase as “a powerful celebration of memory, identity, and material innovation,” highlighting the strength and diversity of the Photography cohort.
Artlyst praised the exhibition for presenting “genuine photographic voices,” and recognised the confidence and clarity emerging from the department.
