Naomi Harris, America Swings

The secret life of America's Bible Belt

Swinging sex lives of everyday Americans, now made affordable!

Richard Prince discovered Naomi Harris in TASCHEN's The New Erotic Photography and was so intrigued by her photos of American swingers that he tracked down the 34-year-old New Yorker, determined to make her his protégé. When he discovered TASCHEN had signed her to do America Swings he asked to do an interview with her, where he reveals part of what makes her work so unique: "When I look at one of your swinger photos what I'm looking at is mostly you ‘outside' the picture looking at what you're photographing … half-naked, all naked, taking these photos of next-door neighbors having sex …”.

He refers to Harris's secret for winning the confidence of her subjects: to penetrate the world of middle class mate-swapping she had to join them, often working in just shoes and a tool belt to hold her camera gear. Her extreme technique worked so well that in 48 months she was able to photograph 38 parties, crisscrossing the country from Mahwah, New Jersey, to Pleasanton, California; from Big Lake, Minnesota, to Washington, Texas.

Her subjects are not the usual perfected androids who populate contemporary erotica, but ordinary people with extraordinary sex lives, including multi-orgasmic schoolteachers, polyamorous nurses, bi-sexual senior citizens and the Mandingos, a group of African-American men who service white wives. This book explores a rarely-seen side of sex in America. The original art edition is now available in a size and price affordable by all!


About the photographer:
Naomi Harris was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1973. She received her photographic training at New York’s International Center of Photography. She has been published in Fortune, Flaunt, Life, and Heeb magazines, and likes to knit, sing karaoke, and frequent nude beaches. She lives in Brooklyn.

About the contributing author:
Richard Prince, painter, photographer and collagist was born in 1949 in the Panama Canal Zone. He is known as a critic of and commentator on American consumer culture and as a master of appropriated art. He currently lives and works in New York City.

About the editor:
Dian Hanson was born in Seattle in 1951. For 25 years she produced various men’s magazines, including Puritan, Juggs and Leg Show, before becoming TASCHEN's sexy book editor in 2001. Her many books for TASCHEN include Vanessa del Rio: Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior, Tom of Finland XXL, and The Big Butt Book. She lives in Los Angeles.