A few months ago I was approached by Carmin Conner to contribute
some writing to this magazine project she was trying to get off the ground.
Little did I know that it would open a floodgate of enthusiasm and energy the
likes of which I had never seen. Carmin Conner is a sensual She-ra (as in
He-man and She-ra? Get with it!), a tornado of titivation that you can not help
but get swept up in. I was first introduced to Carmin’s work through my
interview blog, when I asked her to feature in the fledgling stage of my
personal project. From that first encounter I was captivated by a truly dynamic
and off the wall character. I didn’t want to say goodbye to such a force of
creative rocket fuel, so I did everything I could to stay in touch with her
whilst at the same time utterly submerging myself in her body of work. Now let
me tell you, delving into an erotic artist’s body of work is the kind of
research I can get excited about! Not only are you emotionally and erotically
charged when viewing Carmin’s imagery, but there’s intelligence there also, the
evidence of a skilled practitioner making the right decisions in front of the
camera. This intellect is present in all forms of contact with Carmin, her
razor sharp wit and offbeat sense of humour delight, and is always eloquently
embodied in her writing. She’s a marvel in my eyes, and a true talent in so
many disciplines, as well as a leader I would follow on any creative endeavour.
I give you the driving force behind SKIN magazine, the one and only Carmin
Conner.
You are our
fearless leader here at SKIN, and mistress-mind behind the whole project. Where
did the idea for such a publication come from?
Thanks very much Richard! Fearless leader? Aaah! I’m a big
scaredy cat really… The idea came about after I was working as co-editor for
another magazine, which shall remain nameless… I hated how it was run and the
cretin in charge took forever to do fuck all. To sum it up the whole project
lacked gumption, ambition and originality and I needed something more. As a
personal project I set myself the near impossible challenge of producing a
magazine in 4 weeks from scratch although I had no experience in any of the
software and had no content whatsoever. In fact I didn’t even have a name or
even a vague idea of what I was doing. All I knew was that I needed to create
something original and thought provoking with loads of sex and I needed to do
it fast! I sat down with my husband and
brainstormed some ideas, he came up with the name and has been a highly
valuable contributor. 4 weeks later
issue 1 was published within the deadline with about 2 hours to spare. It’s
riddled with errors and was highly stressful but I’m so happy I did it as I
learned from all the mistakes to make issue 2 something I’m incredibly proud
of.
You’re most
definitely an erotica entrepreneur; tell us some more about your background in
tantalization…
Well I’ve always worked in the sex industry in various areas. I
started working as a lapdancer when I was 17 and progressed to being an adult
model appearing in top shelf magazines and porn sites before eventually writing
my sex advice column for ICandy Magazine.
Sex is something I’ve always been fixated on due to its many fascinating
sub genres and it certainly brings out the crazy in everyone!
The written
word and journalism are also passions of yours, where does this interest stem
from?
Both my parents are published novelists and my Dad runs his own
publishing house so I grew up immersed in literature. Writing comes naturally
for me and I began working for my Dad at an early age, becoming director of his
company at 15. I spent my holidays proofreading novels and I remember my Dad
giving me the works of Petronius when I was 9. In primary school I won an award
for literature, however it didn’t become a serious venture until I was about 20
when a few of my short stories were published and I was asked to do a reading
at the Edinburgh Festival.
What are you
wearing?
Right now I’m wearing blood red skinny jeans and a beige shirt with
a big black cravat. I’ve become rather fixated on fanciful neckwear
recently.
What has
been occupying your time of late?
It was my 24th birthday last week so I was down in the
Westcountry with my family, hanging out in nearby Totnes, which boasts being
twinned with Narnia and is one of my most favourite places. I got back on
Tuesday to a mountain of e-mails so I’ve been steadily working through them and
trying to catch up on a lot of work that needs doing for the magazine. It’s all
good fun though and I thrive on the chaos that comes with running a team of
ADHD riddled writers. I’ve also become an honorary member of the coppertop
brigade as I became a ginger last night.
When was the
last time you were bound at the wrists?
The last time was at a shoot about a year ago at the bachelor pad
of a property developer who moonlighted as an erotic photographer. He had the
whole shebang in this secret rented flat in the city centre. He was a real Patrick
Bateman. HOWEVER! My most memorable experience was when I was about 14/15. I
was in the boys’ boarding house at school when a few of my “friends” thought it
would be hilarious to tie me to a red hot radiator. I was only there a few
minutes when the housemaster (this crazy alcoholic who later got a 13yr old
Greek girl pregnant) burst in. We were expecting a total bollocking only for
him to calmly lead us to his office where he explained that we were too young
to indulge in bondage and that we should wait at least a couple years before
trying again. Peculiar man…
What was the
last book you read?
It was the Number Mysteries. I’m severely mathematically
challenged so a book on numerology totally fried my brain, it was horrendous.
What genre
of music do you listen to most often?
Er... God it’s so hard to say. My husband is a Breakcore producer
so that’s a prevalent influence in the Conner household, but I listen to all
sorts of stuff from Marilyn Chamber to Gabber, Grindcore, Ludovico Einaudi , Roy Orbison… I’m on a bit
of a Witchouse trip at the moment though.
Name one
thing that is an aphrodisiac for you?
Beards.
What are
your hopes and ambitions for SKIN in the future?
I don’t worry about great ambitions too much, the main ethic is
that we all have fun creating something we’re proud of. If we’re still doing
this in a year’s time I’ll be ecstatic. Although! I am in talks with the
Princes Trust at the moment and they’ve been an outstanding help so thanks to
them the magazine will hopefully go to print and be distributed within the next
couple of months and that will be a great achievement! I’ve also been in
correspondence with Moors Murderer, Ian Brady so it would be amazing to
interview him properly for the mag.
Do you have
a message for readers?
Hmmmmmmmmm… Read SKIN, check out the blog for weekly updates and
exclusive interviews, eat your greens, recycle, adopt a snow leopard, love thy
neighbour, Hail Satan!
