Photography: Cait Oppermann shoots the world's largest sex convention (some NSFW)

Date
10 February 2014

Sometimes being a photographer grants you access to places and situations that you might never otherwise consider (or desire) going to. Such was the case for Cait Oppermann, the Brooklyn-based photographer who found herself at Exxxotica, one of the world’s largest sex conventions, camera in hand and judgement tucked firmly away.

The results of her foray into this super-sexy underworld are not at all what you might expect. At times tender, occasionally touching and more often than not strangely lonely-looking, the images have an odd melancholy and heartwarming undertone, the reason for which Cait herself explained to us: “I went to Exxxotica, one of the world’s largest sex conventions, expecting to be completely disgusted by humanity. I was and I wasn’t. I saw a lot of people who didn’t seem to fit in anywhere else. People who looked like maybe they felt safer among people who wouldn’t judge them. I left feeling like I had just witnessed some of them finally getting a taste of freedom from judgment and the chance to just be themselves for a few hours, or even a few days. I never thought I’d look back and describe some aspects of a sex convention being sweet, but they were. Somehow sweet.”

Cait’s friend and fellow photographer Yael Malka also attended the convention, capturing a very different side, which you can see here.

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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Cait Oppermann: Exxxotica

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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