Page 24 - AVN July 2016

WHO’S WHO
IN MEMORIAM
Charles Gatewood, 1942-2016
Charles Gatewood—a man best known for his
photography, but who was also a writer, videographer,
artist and educator—died on April 28. He was 73.
“Charles Gatewood has been my best friend,
mentor, and closest confidant,” said his girlfriend, Eva
Marie. “He believed in me always, offering support and
encouragement with unconditional love and kindness.”
Known as “the anthropologist of the forbidden,” Gatewood
was a photographer for Skin and Ink magazine (1998-2010)
and produced more than 30 documentaries about body
modification, fetish fashion and more. He was considered the
premier documentarian of alternative culture in San Francisco,
listing Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle and several others as his
subjects.
He documented sexual underground and alternative
subcultures dating back to the 1960s. He also produced a few
adult movies, including Whipped & Shaved/Bloodbath Erotic Blood
Rituals and Erotic Tattooing & Body Piercing Vol. 5.
Born Nov. 8, 1942, in Elgin, Illinois, Gatewood was the son of John Jay
Gatewood and Clarene Hall Gatewood. He grew up in Rolla and Springfield,
Missouri, and he attended the University of Missouri, majoring in anthropology
and minoring in art history.
On April 29, 1966, Gatewood photographed the concert and pre-concert press
conference of musician Bob Dylan. One photograph, “Dylan With Sunglasses and
Cigarette,” was syndicated and received worldwide publication. “Taking the Bob
Janus Rainer, 1948-2016
Janus Rainer, a former waitress and dancer who went on
to become a director of adult films, passed away May 3 in
Pennsylvania. She was 68.
Rainer, whose career was based out of New York and the
East Coast, was known as the Queen of Bondage at a time
when fetish and BDSM movies were very much a niche
product.
“She was working as a dancer when she came in contact
with some people who allowed her to get into the magazine
publishing business,” said her brother and adult industry
colleague Nate Silver. “She started and ran Ouch magazine and
Women in Command.”
Rainer then segued into movies, shooting 92 titles for
Bizarre Video. She produced, wrote, directed and edited movies for Coast to Coast,
Dungeon Video, L.A. Video and VCA Pure Platinum. And she also created her own
company, Star Marker Video. With more than 800 movies to her credit, Rainer was
inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in the mid-1990s.
Silver noted Rainer brought a sense of pride to her work at a time when
controversial content—especially fetish and BDSM content—could land
performers and director in hot water.
“Janus came from a generation where pornography was taboo,” Silver said. “If
you make material that could come across a judge’s desk and he or she could say
‘this is obscene and illegal’ you could really have troubles. My sister focused on
creating content that could never be considered obscene: She focused on the true
sexuality of a woman. Her movies had stories and sensuality and beauty.
“We would have conversations about how to shoot a woman’s leg,” he
continued. “We would start at the tip of a woman’s toe, and travel all the way to
her waist, and we would take 15 minutes to do it.”
In addition to producing her own content, Rainer was known for helping other
women in the industry—especially those who participated in the BDSM and fetish
communities—further their own careers with a sense of pride and empowerment.
Silver said he remembers women including Kelly Payne, Bunny Blue, Misty Rain,
Holly Ryder, Tricia Yen, Teri Diver and more staying on his sister’s couch, leaning
24 | AVN.com | 7.16
Dylan photo gave me faith I could actually be a professional
photographer,” said Gatewood.
Since then, his 50-year journey as a photojournalist and fine
art photographer has seen him work on assignment for Rolling
Stone, The New York Times, Harper’s, Time and other national
publications.
“Chaz was a close friend, mentor, and sometimes
collaborator since 1982,” said Annie Sprinkle. “He was
enormously talented, a very influential photographer, and he
lived his life as art. A lot of folks in the tattooing, piercing,
music, BDSM, and sex worker communities are enormously
grateful for the treasure trove of images he made of us, and
are much relieved that UC Berkeley will preserve his archive.
He will live on in my heart and my clit.”
“I worked with Chaz from 2008 to 2010, but you couldn’t
really call it ‘work’—our interaction was always full of fun and
play,” said Kelly Shibari. “I’m forever grateful to him for all he
has taught me about the nature of entertainment, of baring your soul, of throwing
everything against the wall and seeing what sticks, and having no regrets.”
The Gatewood Archive contains several thousand vintage and modern silver
prints, 250,000 slides and negatives, plus contact sheets, proof prints, personal
papers, correspondence, over a thousand books, and special collections. The
archive also contains master edits of 36 Gatewood videos, plus three films
(including a copy of Dances Sacred and Profane) and a selection of prints by other
fine art photographers.
how to be true mistresses and how to make the most of their
time in the industry.
In addition to Silver, Rainer is survived by daughters Valerie
and Sandy, and a few other family members.
Daughter Valerie also talked with AVN about her mother, who
“was very loved by me and my sister.” Valerie recalled other
highlights of Rainer’s career. During the late 1970s she put on
live S&M shows at Plato’s Retreat and other bondage-related
clubs. One of the major shows was called “An Evening of the
Unusual.”
Valerie also commented on Rainer’s publishing career,
recalling her long association with Teddy Rothstein’s Star
Distributors from 1973 to 1999, where she produced such
periodicals as Deviations Directory, Petticoat Power, Fem Fatale, Humbly yours, Obeisance,
Women in Command and the infamous OUCH (“So good it hurts”). For these
projects—which were focused on bondage, transvestite, female domination, male
domination and fetish-related subjects—she used the byline The Grand Matriarch.
And the byline suited her.
Despite Rainer’s career in the adult industry, Valerie said, “She was strict, like a
normal mom. She used to say, ‘I’m your mother, not your friend.’” And Valerie’s
friends would tell her she was lucky to have a mother who was willing to lay down
rules and provide guidance. “She taught me to have a strong work ethic ... and
how to work in the adult industry and keep your integrity.”
Valerie also respected her mother for her strong support of sexual freedom.
“She was one of those people looing for equality and changing the world” so that
members of the fetish community could have “freedom of expression for who they
are and what they believe.”
She was also a strong supporter of female empowerment and LGBT causes.
“One of her greatest joys was to see people like Kaitlyn Jenner step up and say,
‘This is who I am.’ ... She was glad to be part of changing the world.
“To my mom [her career] was really a life cause. She couldn’t stand how people
are treated differently because of their sexuality.”
—Sherri L. Shaulis