For someone who landed late to the pleasure party, I am proud to write a piece entirely on the theme. Erotic art based in queer lives often blurs the line between pleasure and heterosexual fetishization and objectification. Added to that the risks that exposure of intimate queer lives in times of worldwide hate can have, it took me sometime to curate an instagram feed of queer friendly art for myself. Once I did, I decided to share with you the result comprising some of the most erotic queer pages on Instagram that I follow.
1. @flupieland: This is probably the first insta pages I began following for its depictions of erotic lesbian love and female desire. A quick rummage will yield images of women masturbating, of kissing their lovers along with beautifully detailed erotic facial expressions that look so real that will make you too, an instant follower.
2. @artqueerhabibi: To open this insta page without hitting the follow button is not a story I have heard from any to whom I recommended this page. Capturing queer lives in the Arab world, the page runs images of men catching a quick kiss in a car with a “haram love” board in the backdrop, stealing glances of crave across the street, enjoying flirtatious moments in bedroom; or images of women lying down together or about to kiss, all painted in beautiful colours. The artist who chooses to stay anonymous for safety reasons seeks to bring visibility to queer lives in Arab countries. This page is a needed combination of everydayness and subversion of LGBTQI+ lives rooted in their most intimate experiences, and that is why you should follow it.
3. @opashona: Opashona Ghosh’s project KIN-a series of graphic illustrations using erotica explores female sexual agency, queer desires, and vulnerability in such bright colours that gives you a break from the black and white medium in which the realm of sexual desires is usually explored. KIN appeals to me because it places vulnerability and desire together in a frame asking you to sit and see your most honest, naked selves.
4. @sapphicsketches: Featuring erotic lesbian art, the artist, Jodi Sandler, creates the most sensuous works in black and white lines. Find lesbian women in deep kisses, their bodies draped into each other in various patterns. I follow this page for its simple yet passionately intimate art.
5. @daintystrangerphotographs: Run by Raqeeb who was inspired to embark on their Instagram journey when they began clicking pictures of their partner. Their photo project: aspirations of desire capturing the lives of queer individuals who have been shamed for their desires and bodies challenges notions of sexuality and maleness. Having discovered them through Gaysi’s website, what I love about Raqeeb’s feed is the honesty in desire, the rawness of being, and the intimacy which comes across through their photographs really well.
6. @ambera.wellmann: Ambera Wellmann paints desire not in its usual objectified lens of male gaze but a female perspective. Motivated by ““a search to pictorially structure female desire”, Wellmann’s erotic paintings have a uniqueness of bodies flowing into each other and their surroundings as if to suggest multitudes of desires, the myriad possibilities of it. There is a mix of paintings: while some are more defined, others blend heavily, aptly conveying the complexities of eroticism and desire.
7. @lucifer_1483: Mohit Tiwari’s Instagram page is an aesthetic pleasure you cannot not give into. Their work detailing queer desires through women inching towards a kiss with every swipe, or men playing with their tongues is not only a sensual delight but also an artistic one. You can check their Behance page for their series on queer desires, Crush: Love Has no Labels, once you have experienced the beauty their instagram page is.
8. @a_janevsky: Erotic art based in science fiction! Can you imagine?! With a focus on precision and detail, this super erotic page illustrates women having sex with women in myriad postures, and expositions of multiple women sharing the most passionate moments. This page excites me because one, it is intricate, and two, it reminds of real sci-fi comic books but only better.
9. @thedannyguy: This page captures intimate queer desires in their most everyday and sensual forms. For someone who loves a good description of how the artist is interpreting the image, what do they want to convey through their pictures, this page becomes a home of artistic and literary pleasures. Their recent series, “documenting life beyond gender and sex”, is a poetic journey of desire that you cannot miss.
10. @zachnutman: Zach Nutman is a needle artist producing the most erotic gay and lesbian art. Find multiple men sexually pleasing each other, women of colour enjoying self-pleasure, and cowboys, a lot of cowboys to give you moments of pleasure. As if that is not a reason enough, all this art is done in colourful needlework!
11. @skinxtype: Pulkit Mogha’s photographic genius to represent their private vulnerability of identifying as gay and that of a queer South Asian overturns the imaginations of being on the spectrum whose ideas of being are borrowed from the west. Their representations of queer experiences across bodies, races, genders capturing intimately constructed moments of being queer have been a subject of censorship. After a third instagram account Mogha stays put knowing their work is appreciated by many for its normality and most importantly, a sensitive depiction of desires.
12. @v.eird: Veer Misra is the last in this list but never ever the least. Beautifully documenting experiences of being a South Asian male, Veer’s pink tinted art speaks desire in subtlety making you crave for more. Their art is also subversive in challenging the western notion of queer male bodies, love, and desire.
These are some of the Insta pages I follow and like. In future I’d like to be more intersectional in my approach by having, for example, more trans people, people having disabilities, etc.
If you have more suggestions, do mention in the comments below. Because who doesn’t need a good piece of erotic art once in a while?
