Orion

Orion is a new book by artist and archivist Brendan Donnelly - a wild archive of photographs that weave a visual narrative of pleasure and pain, drawing connections between disparate subcultures - from 1950s BDSM to 1980s/90s metal heads, and executioners hoods to codpieces.

A tribute to the weirdos of heavy metal and bondage - it’s a sharply curated collision of scenes and sensations, examining the ecstasy in darkness and the beauty in extremes.

The book features a foreword by Jesse Pearson titled Nightmare’s Pleasure, which more deeply explores the themes and intent behind the work.

An excerpt from Nightmare’s Pleasure by Jesse Pearson:
“In the artist Brendan Donnelly’s Orion, leather is but the leading edge of a bevy of signifiers that are shared by the universes of metal and bondage. An archivist at heart, Donnelly here draws for us an unholy Venn diagram, the center of which is a bacchanalian circus of spilled blood, capering demons, flung cum, and deafening noise. As the venerable Hell Priest himself has said: ‘There is a secret song at the heart of the world, and its sound is like razors through flesh.’”

Softcover with foil
Edition of 250
Published by: Friend Editions
Size: 216 × 279 mm
Pages: 88
Year: 2025