The London photographer, Roxy Lee is known for her vivid and alluring snapshots of queer underground nightlife, BTS fashion, and campaign shots.

‘Cold Lunch’ by Roxy Lee
3-5 Feb

Roxy Lee’s bold and explicit photograph exhibition is happening and taking over minds. It presented hundreds of keyrings looking at censorship, sploshing, and obscenity in ‘Cold Lunch’ at Ridley Road Project Space. Cold Lunch collection’s theme is ‘based on what happens behind closed doors’ and ‘sex work’.

ROXY LEE SAID, ‘THEY’RE ALL QUITE PERSONAL SPACES.’

‘I guess I did that because seeing a dirty club foot in a pair of stilettos and fishnets is way kinkier than the most explicit images,’ she explained about the feet and heel photos of the exhibition.

“I LIKED THE IDEA OF AN ARTWORK BEING A KEEPSAKE OR A SOUVENIR BECAUSE ALL OF MY WORK IS VERY IN-THE-MOMENT” – ROXY LEE

Talking about the censorship aspect of the content that can’t be shown online Roxy said, ‘Loads of my work gets taken down from Instagram. Some of it is sex work, but some aren’t. Its people being confident with their bodies and themselves. I’ve always been fascinated with what goes on behind closed doors, so I think it’s great to show that and normalize that. Lesbian kissing often gets taken down from Instagram, weirdly, it never seems to happen with men kissing. Some printers and developers are funny about it, too. It puts you in a powerless position and makes you feel quite shit, really, it’s like: how have I managed to do the work I want to do, and now I can’t because you don’t want me to?’

In reply to the question about the exhibition’s title she replied, ‘It’s completely coincidental but everything I do seems to be linked to food perversion: like my Instagram @sausageandcustard and my zine Vinegar Sniffs. I like it because it invokes either a sensation of wanting and craving, disgust, or both. And I found the phrase ‘cold lunch’ a really long time ago and it means when you like to be vomited on and then eat it. Also, there is a lot of food in the show. There’s food being used as props, there’s quite a lot of elements of sploshing in some of the work. I love sploshing, I think it’s amazing to look at. So, the food element has always been there, and I like to gross people out quite a lot.’

Roxy Lee has given herself a repetitive strain injury making 500 keyrings for her latest exhibition. The contents of this exhibition were taken on nights out, at friends’ houses or studios, or in Lee’s bedroom.