Six paintings and a whip

Whips differ in lengths, materials, flexibility and sophistication depending on region and purpose. Uses of the whip vary throughout history and contemporary culture. Dormant, the whip may appear to be a taper cross-braided leather strand often associated with fetish, bondage, dominance, sadomasochism, torture, and animal control. Within the culture of whips there is a divide between “pain-making” whips and “noise making” whips. This paper will discuss the Western bullwhip, a noise-making whip, and articulations of the sound it creates in relation to my thesis exhibition Six Paintings and a Whip.