Aurel Schmidt Interview

Aurel Schmidt interviewed by Karley Sciortino for Oyster Magazine #99. Image taken by Cass Bird.

Karley Sciortino: Something I’ve always admired about you is that you seem like a very sex-positive person, and you’re confident in your body and don’t give a shit about being photographed naked.

Aurel Schmidt: I’ve always taken explicit photos. When I started getting press, I really resented that most of the press for female artists — and for females in general — was so sexualised. As a woman, even if what you do has nothing to do with what you look like, magazines and newspapers will try to create this image of you as the ‘cute’ or ‘sexy’ artist, because they want to sell issues. Whereas a male artist will just be photographed standing in his studio. That’s such a cheesy double standard. So I thought, “You know what might be better than trying to be cute? Just being complete slutty. You want a sexy picture of me? Well, here, have a look at my vagina. I’ll just give you what you want right away. You don’t have to wonder anymore.”

Read the rest of the interview here.