SEXUAL SUSHI: THE DIRECTOR

Petra Joy is an award winning erotic photographer and filmmaker and one of the few female adult film producers in the UK.

German born Petra had her first camera when she was only six years old. As a teenager she spent many nights in a dark room, developing her artwork. She published photo reportages in many acclaimed magazines… In her twenties Petra decided on a career as a filmmaker and began working as a freelance TV producer and director for German television. For a decade she created over seventy documentaries of ‘Dear Sins’ an award winning, cutting-edge adult programme on German satellite television. Nowadays, rather than seeing her mission as being to inform and entertain, Petra wants to inspire and stimulate both men and women with her erotic visuals.

In the summer of 2003 she launched ‘Strawberry Seductress’, a personal service which offers individuals and couples tailor-made erotic photos. She has progressed the individual photo shoot into an art form from which her at first nervous and apprehensive clients emerge as confident self-assured individuals with an erotic portfolio they can be proud of. Petra explains her unusual and creative service:

“Each shoot I undertake is unique. Just as each person has individual tastes, erotic dreams, experiences and skills. I have no interest in making people look like glamour model clones, but rather focus on their faces which are a mirror of their individuality. I find I can take pictures of someone fully clothed and they can still be sexy because their eyes are say ‘I want you !’.”

In 2005 Petra launched “Sexual Sushi” - her first erotic film. Her motivation was born from a frustration with commercially available porn:

“Sex sells. Intimacy, sensuality and creativity doesn’t. That’s why commercially successful porn does nothing for me: I want porn that stimulates the mind and feeds the soul. I want porn that is educational and inspirational. I want porn that is creative and kinky. And because I can not find it anywhere, I make my own. I am a visual creature and enjoy expressing myself through photos and films that are very different from mainstream glamour photography and porn films.”

Petra believes that women are visual creatures, enjoying sensual images just as much as men do. But many women and increasingly so men as well seem to be bored and alienated by the endless parade of brightly lit and widely spread genitals that is common in commercial porn. The imagery of commercial porn has become so blatant that it is almost gynological and there is no mystery left. Petra explains:

“It is the mystery, the unknown that makes images sexy to me, so I chose to add layers, rather than taking them away….I use available light and shoot through materials that create textures. I work with props that express the fantasies of the individuals I photograph and film. Every image I shoot makes you think “I wonder what happens next? The images are meant to turn on the sex organ that is between your ears first and then later, travel down and turn you on between your legs. It is a deep and slow working sensual, rather than a fast and furious sexual stimulation.”

There is a lot of ‘sexual junk food’ around: instant gratification, easily available, cheap but often not satisfying on the long run. Junk food will always be there, and will always sell because we have been conditioned to believe that it is the only way to portray sex in porn. But it isn’t. With her ground-breaking independently produced erotic film “Sexual Sushi”, Petra would like to provide more than just a consumable product that has no impact on the viewer:

“I would like to inspire you to be creative, cross boundaries and let yourself be surprised when you have sex. I hope you will enjoy yourselves and your sexy uniqueness rather than copying what you see other people do on film over and over again. Enjoy !”

Not since Madonna’s ground-breaking book ‘Sex’ have there been many attempts by women to create visual erotica that inspires. Petra is a pioneer of a new wave of female orientated erotic art. She is widely published both here in the UK and abroad, she was voted ‘Photographer of the Year 2004’ in the annual Erotic Awards.