UPCOMING:
Role Play Is My Safe Space
Photography by: Natasha Gornik

ON VIEW AT SHAG
Jun 18 - Aug 29, 2026

 

OPENING RECEPTION:
Thursday, June 18
6-8pm

ARTIST STATEMENT
Role Play is My Safe Space is a collection of work made over three decades as both photographer and subject. Behind the camera is where I have always felt my most confident, authentic self - I am a photographer, I am a voyeur, I control the gaze and the narrative. It is in these roles that I first began to explore and find my identity, both publicly and privately. 

Desire has always been the undercurrent of my work. Since childhood, sexuality - for better or worse -  has been a large part of my life. At nineteen I began exploring BDSM, at around that same time I picked up the camera. In those earlier years I photographed the people I wanted to be or be close to, the communities I yearned to exist in. Photography became my vehicle into this compelling world where fantasies converged with the everyday. The camera gave me a sense of belonging and mutuality. It was no longer only that I desired my subjects, but they desired the way I saw them. At the time, there was no greater feeling than that exchange. 

To fully immerse myself in the work, I found it essential to understand what it felt like to be the one in front of the camera, to be gazed upon. This became another act of self discovery as well as a visual diary. I often created self portraits intended for a specific person(s). The Greetings series started as a birthday card for a lover, Heel came from a moment with my sex work client, Daddy 1 & 2 were inspired by a play partner I had an intense kink relationship with. These photographs are a record of my hunger to want and to be wanted.

 

NATASHA GORNIK | BIO
@natashagornik

Natasha Gornik is a Brooklyn-based visual artist whose work delves into intimacy, sexuality, and queerness. For over two decades, she has documented fringe subcultures through photography and film, capturing communities she deeply identifies with. In 2023, she self-published Gasm, a collection of short text vignettes and photographs created between 2009 and 2013.

Natasha also curates Sightlines, a semiannual short film screening that showcases diverse voices and perspectives through film and video art. She is currently working on the 7th installment.

Natasha's work has been featured in various publications and exhibitions. Through her imagery and storytelling, she invites viewers to reflect on and challenge societal norms.
natashagornik.com