SHOW

2010
Hardcover with slipcase
130 pages
Published by Pond Press

In SHOW, noted photographer Henry Horenstein looks at the myriad worlds of modern burlesque, drag, sideshow, and fetish. Printed in sumptuous duotones, the striking black-and-white images concentrate on the form and beauty of alternative performance, mixing his well-known documentary style from such books as Honky Tonk (Chronicle Books, 2003) with his abstract, metaphoric images from ANIMALIA (Pond Press, 2008).

SHOW documents a contemporary subculture that harkens back to the early parts of the last century. But in its current version, the tease is removed from striptease: drag kings share equal billing with drag queens, body piercing is both an art and a pleasure, and sword artists belly dance as they swallow. The book is a voyeur’s delight, but it claims to be neither fantasy nor document—rather it’s a bit of both. It titillates and informs as its photographs delight, excite, and amaze the viewer