Like many creatives who’re othered for being ‘different’, Bonnie Bakeneko is all about difficult conventional beauty standards – something they do through their handmade bespoke fetish pieces for the face and mouth. Drawing on their struggles with mental health, the non-binary artist’s designs reflect the dark desires that underpin your deepest fantasies. Offering custom pieces to cater your individual aesthetic taste, Bakeneko’s extravagant designs vary from bejewelled cheek retractors – formerly confined to the dentist chair and something which Bakeneko’s own fears and anxieties have long been certain up in – to headpieces adorned with beetle wings and taxidermy. Growing up in rural Norwich, Bonnie finds solace within the quiet, seclusion of the countryside. With plans to relocate just outside of Cambridge, the heavily tattooed designer and performance artist revels within the realm of body modification. Having recently undergone surgery to remove their nipples, we chat with Bakeneko about their craft and what body modification means to them.

Have your perceptions of beauty all the time deviated from the mainstream? Do you remember a specific time or moment where you found yourself othered for this reason?
Bonnie Bakeneko: For so long as I can remember I’ve been considered ‘weird’. I didn’t get on with other kids in school and was often ostracised due to it. I’ve all the time had a fascination with the uglier, darker side of nature, aware from a young age that it may be disgusting yet cruel, but in equal parts beautiful. It’s hard for me to pinpoint an actual time as I’ve all the time been othered.

What initially drew you to avant-garde fetish design?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I’ve all the time been thinking about fetish aesthetically and psychologically. I even have my very own share – the cheek retractor being certainly one of them. Like many others, my fetish is an object and stems from trauma. I suffered from tooth enamel hypoplasia as a baby, my teeth literally rotted away, it was a horrible experience. People assume fetishes should be sexual – while sexuality is vital in my work it’s not inherent. My work is taking these fetishised objects and reworking them. They change into greater than an object, they change into a bit of wearable art. When creating I process my trauma like a type of mental alchemy, making something positive from a negative.

Tell us about your creative process.
Bonnie Bakeneko: I normally start with a base concept, more of an abstract feeling, then begin to create from that. I don’t are inclined to have a finalised idea, I like my work to flow organically. It’s a case of constructing upon my initial idea after which creating until I’m completely happy.

Where did you learn your craft?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I taught myself every thing I do know, I’m neurodivergent (autism spectrum and dyspraxia) so have all the time found it hard to learn in conventional ways. Nobody knows my brain like I achieve this I’m my very own best teacher.

How do you people normally perceive your work?
Bonnie Bakeneko: People say they’ve never seen anything prefer it before which to me is a large compliment. I don’t think people realise that I even have a really personal reference to my work. I’m not attempting to make something shocking that’s purely aesthetic.

When did you first begin to switch your body?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I used to be scared of needles for the longest time. After I was 18 I suffered my first nervous breakdown together with psychosis. I discovered that hell was inside me, in my head, and physical pain was nothing as compared. I began to switch my body at 19 and realised that it gave me a reassuring feeling of control. I’ve all the time suffered from body dysmorphia and depersonalisation so I’ve never related to my body or felt it was my very own. Modifying it’s a way of reclamation.

Are you able to tell us about your recent surgery to have your nipples removed?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I’ve hated my nipples since I hit puberty at 14. I used to be anorexic and my breasts didn’t form properly so I used to be very flat chested. At that age I had little access to the web and I didn’t know much about human biology, I used to be unaware that mammary glands could even be felt under the skin and that they were hard. I used to be convinced I had cancer or that there was something severely mistaken with me. I discover as non-binary and don’t have any desire to have children so that they’ve all the time felt redundant to me.

Why do you’re thinking that gender nullification surgery is so vital to non-binary bodies?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I don’t consider it’s important for everybody but it surely was vital to me. My breasts should not sexual objects. I hate the policing of the feminine nipple, they’re demonised and sexualised. By nullifying them each of these items have been taken away from me. I enjoy them aesthetically now – my body is for me and nobody else.

Are you able to tell us about your frustrations with censorship and social media?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I find it very ironic that strangers can send you unsolicited graphic images but you may’t post a non-sexual photo of a female nipple. There isn’t any recognition for trans or non-binary people either. I wasn’t allowed to post my nipples previously but now they’ve been removed I can? I find that actually bizarre.

What do you’re thinking that is the longer term of beauty?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I hope the longer term of beauty is kinder above all else and I believe we’re beginning to get there. Archaic notions ought to be put to rest and we must always give attention to having fun with our bodies as an alternative of battling against them. There must be more transparency surrounding what bodies really appear like as an alternative of those airbrushed fantasies. People must stop being marginalised for what makes them different and as an alternative be celebrated for what makes them unique.

Who do you’re thinking that is admittedly owning it in difficult existing notions of beauty immediately?
Bonnie Bakeneko: Currently I believe drag queens are. Not only by way of beauty ideals but notions of gender and sexuality as well. You’ve got the metamorphosing fantastic thing about Hungry and the unsettling horror of Abhora. Each are stunningly beautiful. Drag is becoming more fluid with the rise of more kings and non-binary performers. It’s more focused on self-expression and gender performativity than simply female illusion.

What advice do you will have for individuals who don’t relate to mainstream beauty ideals?
Bonnie Bakeneko: Be yourself, be unique. Absolutely nobody has the authority to say you should not beautiful. At all times stay true to yourself otherwise you won’t ever find self-acceptance. Being comfortable in your individual skin is so far more vital than what others think.