Malerie Marder Photographs the Private Moments of Family Members, Friends and Herself (NSFW)

The images in LA-based photographer Malerie Marder’s intimate book Carnal Knowledge are a combination of color and black and white photographs of family members, friends and herself, all in the nude. Sometimes shot in sparse motel rooms, the images feel both intimate and distant at the same time: some of the subjects are couples, captured in private moments, with bodies intertwined; other times the subjects stand removed and separate from each other.

Asked during various interviews to discuss her thoughts behind the book, Marder says, “What was I thinking when I made the pictures? This is in no particular order: fate, kink, performance, a secret, nostalgia, sensual memory, voyeurism, nighttime settings, barren rooms, stark lighting, romantic trysts, foreign environments, intimacy, and lack of intimacy, connection, lack of connection, self-reflection, and lack of self-reflection…My work has a lot to do with privacy and secrecy. I’m innately drawn to this, someone disarming themselves for the camera, in a moment that would normally remain private. That’s my drive, or, in a way my addiction.”

Feature Shoot Contributing Editor Carolyn Rauch is a Photo Editor.

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