Page 24 - AVN September 2017

WHO’S WHO
of my friends was like, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of
camming?’” Kim says.
“He was like, ‘You can work from home.’ And I was
like, ‘No, I’ve never heard of camming.’ And then I
checked out the very first site he told me about, which
was MFC. That was the first site I signed up for kind of
out of curiosity. I didn’t even do my research.
“And then I ended up being there for another seven
years.”
But at the beginning she took it slow. She was raised
in an ultra conservative Asian American family, where
sex was taboo and never talked about at home.
“I actually started on cam as a non-nude model and I
didn’t take off any of my clothes for several years,” Kim
says.
Even though she remained clothed in public chat,
Kim gradually started doing explicit private shows
with regulars she trusted. She recalls, “One day some
of my nudes and some of my privates got leaked and
people started using that as a way to bully me, to call
me a liar and to call me a slut and to threaten me and
to blackmail me. And then I think it was at that point
that I started realizing exactly how important it was to
continue what I was doing.
“So I actually switched from being non-nude to nude
at that moment and I started shooting.”
It was 2013 and Kim was still at Parsons, where she
was diving deeper into landscape photography.
“And all of a sudden I decided to turn the camera
back onto myself and start shooting self portraiture,”
Kim continues. “And that was my own personal, private
L I F E - C A M
M O D E L
Joey Kim brings artistry to way of becoming more comfortable with my body and
also becoming more confident with it and viewing it
almost in a clinical way, but through my own lens,”
Kim says.
“And then I started doing it with my live streaming
camera and it just started to merge into one thing. Now
streaming
my live streaming camera is like my art lens that allows
me to express myself.”
The breadth of “life-cam” shows on JoeyKim.tv
THE CREATOR OF JOEYKIM.TV turns her cam shows
“Someone saw that in L.A. and was like, ‘You need to
inspires and titillates—they’re at once unexpected,
into erotic events, streaming live from remote
come and perform for our event. We’ll put your name
uninhibited and understated.
locations and even underwater.
up. You’re going to be the spotlight. You’re going to be
In “Beautiful & Damned,” Kim goes from aerial silks,
A skilled aerialist and elegant dancer who
the main person.’
to a metal chair, to a Lyra with the grace of a ballerina.
specializes on the Lyra and silks, Joey Kim
“I was like, ‘I don’t dance for a living, I don’t know
In “Rivers Will Freeze,” she writhes slowly in a bathtub
tells stories with her sensual performances,
what I’m doing.’ But they really liked me and they really
with snowflakes falling into the neon-colored water. In
demonstrating the art of seduction with soaring
wanted me there. So I went and that was like my very
“Reaching Hands,” she prances and teases as shadowy
aerial burlesque and often surreal stripteases.
first performance ever. And then I realized like, hey, I
silhouettes of hands paw at her figure. And in “Slow
KIM joey
Tech savvy and resourceful, the 26-year-old artist
think I could do this for a living. This is fun. I enjoy it.”
Pour,” she opens her show in a giant wine glass.
has given members of her official site glimpses of
Now Kim is signed with Bespoke Talent Agency in
Kim says she began training on the Lyra, or aerial
exotic places in Hong Kong and Thailand, delivering
New York and is invited to perform at gatherings all over
hoop, at first “as a self-defense thing.”
dazzling acrobatic exhibitions in front of waterfalls,
the world. In February she traveled to Pattaya, Thailand,
“It was two things. During the time I was getting
in the trees and at international festivals.
where she brought her Lyra act to Wonderfruit, an
bullied a lot it was probably the most depressed I’ve
Whether she’s performing online or in front of an
annual arts, music and lifestyle festival held at The Fields
ever been in my life. Because I was scared. It was like
audience, Kim’s captivating “life-cam” streams tend
at Siam Country Club in Chonburi province.
fear and depression and everything at the same time.
to go well beyond what has become the industry
“It’s a festival that’s about loving and sort of bringing
That was my fuel—like my pain and my fear and my
norm for cam shows—with their production value
wonderment back into your life,” Kim says. “That was
desire to want to understand my sexuality and to accept
alone.
wonderful. That was probably my favorite experience
it,” Kim says.
They may just be one of the internet’s best-kept
of all time. Everyone was so creative and open-minded
“And so I started taking exotic dance just sort of as
secrets.
and just inspiring in some way or another. That was
a way to start feeling myself and loving the skin I’m
“I hope to see the site continue to grow,” Kim
refreshing. Some of my closest friends now are people
in. Because really my perception was everyone else’s
tells AVN. “There’s always something to improve.
that I met there.
opinion of me and the internet is so cruel.”
And so I’m actually working on meeting with some
“I got to perform while the sun rose with great DJs on
Kim continues, “You start to get really lonely first of
tech people to improve it and the future JKTV is
crazy installations, so it was magical. That was one of
all, because you’re at home every day and you prefer to
going to be great. We’re going to have a lot higher
the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done.”
just stay home and hang out with your friends online
production videos being released on there.”
Kim debuted on MyFreeCams seven years ago when
instead of go out. You have that and then you have a
Kim performed before a crowd for the first time
she was a sophomore studying photography at Parsons
lot of people bullying you on the internet and so the
in Hollywood in 2014 after someone discovered one
School of Design in New York. With student loans
only opinion you have of yourself and of your body is
of her videos online.
mounting and no part-time job, she knew something had
everyone else’s, especially if you’re not someone who
“One of my videos I recorded while camming,
to change.
grew up really looking at your body ever except when
doing a little strip thing on my Lyra,” Kim explains.
“So I ended up trying to look around for a job and one
you shower or masturbate. So that was what really
24 | AVN.com | 9.17
(Continued on page 104)
Interview | By Dan Miller