“You can look at the menu, but you just can’t eat …”
That’s what it must be like—at least I hope that’s what it’s like—to have a cannibal fantasy. The glistening skin, the glowing fire, the girl on the spit, it’s all there …except for the actual consumption of human flesh, which is, let’s face facts, the definition of cannibalism.
“Interesting points,” says Mr. Muki, the top chef behind Muki’s Kitchen, a website he runs (with the help of his wife), dedicated to the artful depiction of ladies boiling in cauldrons and roasting over open flames “For us, we feel quite certain that reality could never live up to the odd little fantasy we’ve built up in our heads and we’re perfectly happy to never test that theory…”
He thinks, though, it is more fantasy than fetish. “It’s a fetish in that those who lean this way usually require it to achieve arousal and it’s a fantasy because you really can’t do much more than imagine it. It’s a fetish of the imagination...
The main course…
“And when you think it through completely, the reality of real cannibalism wouldn’t be sexy and could never live up to the stylized image that can be imagined. That is the main reason we stress the fantasy aspect of it so much on our website. We want to keep it sexy and we want it to be a sort of “safety valve” for people who feel this way. It should always stay a fantasy.”
It’s artful deception as well as depiction: the glistening comes from oil or honey, the props, like the giant pot, are made by Mr. Muki. The scenes are part pin-up (he’s inspired by Vargas, Gowland and others), part comic book: beautiful damsels—half of them in distress, half of them causing it.
“Calories? I’m not sure…”
“One of our main goals is to take this rather dark and scary fetish and make it into something sexy and pin-up like,” Mr. Muki says. “Susie Bright once commented that our work was ‘theatrical.’ We both feel that she got it just right. We want to emphasize the fantasy aspect of the pictures.”
This is why, as a feminist, I feel I should freak over women literally portrayed as meat, but as a fantasist and humorist, I totally get Muki’s Kitchen: It’s surrealistic quality affords approachability, so much so that fans can use it to gently introduce this fantasy fetish to a partner.
Mr. Muki is about theater, but also hunger, desire and sensuality—nothing violent for him. You can find things with more of that aesthetic elsewhere, like the art of Dolcett, a pioneer in the field whose name is sometimes used to denote the genre, but Dolcett didn’t invent the fantasy for Mr. Muki.
Mise en Place…
“The physical sensations of mild fear are similar to arousal … this fetish fantasy goes as far back as I can remember, although it wasn’t about me attracting and eating women. I was the main course.”
As a child, he says, his body didn’t look very different to him than the chickens his mom prepared for dinner … and children’s stories—from Bugs Bunny to Hansel and Gretel—often include the threat of someone getting eaten.
“I remember I was in the third grade and our teacher was reading a children’s version of Robinson Crusoe. The whole idea that Friday was a cannibal and was about to be eaten…it appealed to me as a third grader in a way I don’t think my teacher ever intended.”
And Lady Fingers for dessert, perhaps?
Mr. Muki maintains that his male self doesn’t exist in his fantasies: “I identify completely with the women,” he says. “I’m either a girl preparing another girl, knowing tomorrow it might be my turn, or I’m the girl getting prepared.”
It’s probably true for many people—the removal of [your actual self] from the fantasy, which would be the essence of fantasy.
“It’s true!” Mr. Muki says, “I don’t even think about my penis.”
“Interesting points,” says Mr. Muki, the top chef behind Muki’s Kitchen, a website he runs (with the help of his wife), dedicated to the artful depiction of ladies boiling in cauldrons and roasting over open flames “For us, we feel quite certain that reality could never live up to the odd little fantasy we’ve built up in our heads and we’re perfectly happy to never test that theory…”
He thinks, though, it is more fantasy than fetish. “It’s a fetish in that those who lean this way usually require it to achieve arousal and it’s a fantasy because you really can’t do much more than imagine it. It’s a fetish of the imagination...
The main course…
“And when you think it through completely, the reality of real cannibalism wouldn’t be sexy and could never live up to the stylized image that can be imagined. That is the main reason we stress the fantasy aspect of it so much on our website. We want to keep it sexy and we want it to be a sort of “safety valve” for people who feel this way. It should always stay a fantasy.”
It’s artful deception as well as depiction: the glistening comes from oil or honey, the props, like the giant pot, are made by Mr. Muki. The scenes are part pin-up (he’s inspired by Vargas, Gowland and others), part comic book: beautiful damsels—half of them in distress, half of them causing it.
“Calories? I’m not sure…”
“One of our main goals is to take this rather dark and scary fetish and make it into something sexy and pin-up like,” Mr. Muki says. “Susie Bright once commented that our work was ‘theatrical.’ We both feel that she got it just right. We want to emphasize the fantasy aspect of the pictures.”
This is why, as a feminist, I feel I should freak over women literally portrayed as meat, but as a fantasist and humorist, I totally get Muki’s Kitchen: It’s surrealistic quality affords approachability, so much so that fans can use it to gently introduce this fantasy fetish to a partner.
Mr. Muki is about theater, but also hunger, desire and sensuality—nothing violent for him. You can find things with more of that aesthetic elsewhere, like the art of Dolcett, a pioneer in the field whose name is sometimes used to denote the genre, but Dolcett didn’t invent the fantasy for Mr. Muki.
Mise en Place…
“The physical sensations of mild fear are similar to arousal … this fetish fantasy goes as far back as I can remember, although it wasn’t about me attracting and eating women. I was the main course.”
As a child, he says, his body didn’t look very different to him than the chickens his mom prepared for dinner … and children’s stories—from Bugs Bunny to Hansel and Gretel—often include the threat of someone getting eaten.
“I remember I was in the third grade and our teacher was reading a children’s version of Robinson Crusoe. The whole idea that Friday was a cannibal and was about to be eaten…it appealed to me as a third grader in a way I don’t think my teacher ever intended.”
And Lady Fingers for dessert, perhaps?
Mr. Muki maintains that his male self doesn’t exist in his fantasies: “I identify completely with the women,” he says. “I’m either a girl preparing another girl, knowing tomorrow it might be my turn, or I’m the girl getting prepared.”
It’s probably true for many people—the removal of [your actual self] from the fantasy, which would be the essence of fantasy.
“It’s true!” Mr. Muki says, “I don’t even think about my penis.”
Awesome article! Being a part of this community, I have to say that this is spot on. And Megh looks and draws deliciously!
oh ...and the Muki's are the nicest people. Mr. Muki is a very proffesional and talented photographer. I've worked with more 'mainstream' photographers who could do with a lesson or two from Mr. Muki
As a huge fan of Muki-ville -- I say Great article! I give it a ZAGAT's rating *****
Awesome pictures.
I'd love a chance to work with Mr. Muki, it looks so kickass.
wow so totally not expected