The novelty has worn off a bit
after the
first volume of The Transformations of Gwen. This second volume contains more photoshoots of 26-year old Gwen
on her own or with other people. My
favorite is “Punishment Shave for Truen Elizabeth,” which features Gwen shaving
18-year old Elizabeth’s head with an electric razor and then a cut-throat
razor; the pictures suggest a sense of fun and playfulness. Some of the other series are more surreal or
weird: a black and white sequence of Gwen interacting with a phallic shadow of
a lamp; Gwen naked in high heels on black sand (at night); and Gwen gagged and
covered in green saran wrap and hung upside down from the ceiling. There are series of images of Gwen and a
female friend in the shower pouring honey over each other; Gwen dressed in
black leather beating a naked man; Gwen wearing a bizarre strap-on on her chin,
playing with her friend Nimese. There
are more one-off pictures here too: Gwen sitting on a toilet the wrong way
around, with the bathroom floor covered in high heeled shoes; Gwen crouching on
a dinner table, impaling herself on a large dildo; Gwen in leg braces. These pictures will not be to everyone’s
taste.

The pictures here have the same
immediacy as in the first book; it’s very rare to get a glimpse into other’s
sexual lives in such a sustained way. 
Even if she is an exhibitionist, these pictures are still of Gwen’s explorations
of sexuality, rather than simply her performing to some preset audience. These pictures are not the kind that would
appear in some glossy porn magazine, but they are far higher in quality than
the “amateur” images available on the Internet and elsewhere. This joint enterprise between Eric Kroll and
his partner Gwen is a curious one, but and I imagine that most people will find
only a few of these pictures, if any, genuinely arousing. But I find the spontaneity and
experimentalism of these pictures refreshing and admirable.

Links:

• Publisher’s WebSite
• Erik Kroll’s WebSite

©
2002 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring, Ph.D.,
is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is
editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main research is on
philosophical issues in psychiatry. He is especially interested in exploring
how philosophers can play a greater role in public life. He is available to
give talks on many philosophical or controversial issues in mental health.

Categories: Sexuality, ArtAndPhotography