Paris-Bound

I'm excited to announce that my new work from Mary's Club will have its international debut in Paris at Shmorévaz Gallery this November!

(Screenshot from the Photo St. Germain website)

In early 2025 I began an informal artist residency at Mary's Club, Portland's oldest and most beloved strip club. I wanted to continue exploring the male gaze from a unique perspective, and I needed to figure out how to handle issues of consent in a very dark, crowded strip club.

After some research I decided to photograph using a thermal imaging camera, normally used to detect the heat signatures of buildings and machinery.

I found this exploration of desire to be surprising and profound. By revealing only the heat generated by and between humans, the images go deeper than any surface markers of identity like makeup, tattoos or skin color. What they reveal is the essence of existence and human connection, and offer a unique perspective on the sexual and social interactions in a strip club.

Curator Salomé Burstein pulls together this new work with my older Gerry series plus a few images from my Hot Flashes work, which are an exploration of my menopausal miseries as seen through a thermal imaging lens.

Here's me, mid-hot flash. Yes it's as fun as it looks.

You can hear from Salomé about how she connects these three bodies of work by going to the Photo St. Germain website here. The Photo St. Germain festival runs concurrent to the larger Paris Photo event, which I will also attend for a book signing on November 14th. Fun!

Also, my Lusty Lady images will appear in a show in London in mid-November. Stay tuned for more information!

©2026 Cammie Toloui. All Rights Reserved