There are a few people whose email I rush to open; when my longtime friend photographer Thomas Hawk pings my inbox I click right away. A few months back I got the rare chance to hang out with Thomas in person at the 5733 grand opening party, and it had been a long time since we’d seen each other. He has been traveling the United States taking photos – amazing photos, and lots of them are of forbidden and difficult to see street art. We spent the evening with him shooting and talking, and shooting; at one point he got so excited about the set he’d shot for the Florida anomaly World Erotic Art Museum that he had to take out his laptop and show me the raw shots.
Thomas explained that the World Erotic Art Museum was a vast privately owned museum that he discovered in Florida while shooting there. He got permission from the woman who owns the museum, and its huge collection, to photograph the artwork, at least in the interest of preserving it. She, and older lady, had been personally putting the collection together for decades and is very protective of the artwork. With Thomas’ trust, and with her permission, the set is now online.
Thomas put a hefty edit of hi-res images onto his Flickr account. The photographs are nothing short of astonishing.
As we all know that Flickr is quick to delete accounts and remove access to photos, despite the value of any work therin, it’s there with all the usual disclaimers (as in, I don’t endorse Flickr by way of sending you there). I originally went to Flickr because I believe in the spirit of open sharing, with everyone, with age checks applied where appropriate. I’m one of those people who really loves sharing things with the world. Flickr no longer allows you to embed your own images when they are marked outside of “safe.” You know, I have had over 1,426,250 views on Flickr. I’m going to be taking my business, my influence, and my traffic, elsewhere as soon as I can.
Thomas Hawk’s World Erotic Art Museum set is here. It contains sometimes graphic images of sexuality and erotica. If you would like to see all of the images you may need to make sure that you have enabled your account on Flickr to view 18+ material by turning “safe search” off on your account.
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I live down the street from the Museum and it is truly an amazing collection. You must try and experience it in person one day if you can!
Violet, this is really cool. Thank you for sharing.
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