Super Latex Doll (2013)

© all photographs by jean-marie babonneau | www.babonneau.com

The story behind the images

I met Mogenz, a danish man, at a Burlesque Party in Copenhagen where he looked fascinating to me in his black latex costume, a bit like a kinky and original superhero. I asked if he would be interested by a photo session another time and we exchanged contacts. After a few weeks, we got in contact and I asked him what latex costumes he had for our coming photo session. I was impressed when he sent me his photos of many latex costumes! It was great to choose the one I thought looked most photogenic in my eyes.

We planned a meeting at a café in the city on a sunny day to plan for the photographs. I had actually never seen him without latex costume and hardy knew what he looked like in his daily life. A middle-aged guy made a sign while arriving at the café terrasse and I understood that it was Mogenz. He told me about himself, his technical job in the IT-sector, his kids with his different wives, how he keeps his passion secret from his children and family, how his first wife couldn’t accept it and broke up, how the second one tried to play the game and it didn’t go either… until he met his third wife with whom he felt in tune and in harmony. At some point, he discreetly lifted his hawaiian shirt and showed me quickly that he had a latex corset underneath: he really needed the contact with the latex material all the time. It is also why he spent so much money on his wide latex wardrobe: it is an insatiable passion, an obsession, his own kink.

I felt happy to have met a dedicated person and reassured that he was not some kind of dangerous person. It was still new and challenging to me to explore bits of the intimate life of people living on the edge of the accepted social norm. I felt also responsible and grateful for the trust, he put in me as a person and as a photographer. It was all quite exciting, although I am not myself a latex fetichist.

On the planned day of the shooting, the weather was quite warm. I had spotted an interesting location for our staged photographs: a white tunnel under a railtrack in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen. Mogenz had told me that he had recently admitted of his latex kink to his sister and that she would come along with him to help around. It would be the first time that she sees her brother in his latex costume, face under a mask, his feet wearing nearly impossible high heels. Mogenz put vaseline all over his body to fit into his tight latex suit and was helped by his sister. He hardly could hold his balance on the pointy heels and needed the support of the tunnel wall to hold still. We all showed patience and perseverance during our 3-hour photo session. Here is a selection of images from our collaboration. At the end of the series, I added a couple of “behind the scenes” videos from the end of our session. Video sequences filmed with my mobile phone. I would in the later years (2015-2018) explore the fetish scene of Copenhagen in the documentary photo series “Dark Fantasies” (2020).

Behind the scenes