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 personal 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 at college 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 a precise 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 fascinated with fetish aesthetically and psychologically. I actually have my very own share – the cheek retractor being considered one of them. Like many others, my fetish is an object and stems from trauma. I suffered from tooth enamel hypoplasia as a toddler, my teeth literally rotted away, it was a horrible experience. People assume fetishes need to be sexual – while sexuality is very important in my work it’s not inherent. My work is taking these fetishised objects and remodeling them. They grow to be greater than an object, they grow to be 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 pleased.

Where did you learn your craft?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I taught myself every little 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 often perceive your work?
Bonnie Bakeneko: People say they’ve never seen anything prefer it before which to me is a big compliment. I don’t think people realise that I actually 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 change your body?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I used to be fearful of needles for the longest time. After I was 18 I suffered my first nervous breakdown together with psychosis. I discovered that hell was within me, in my head, and physical pain was nothing as compared. I began to change 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 unsuitable 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 think that gender nullification surgery is so vital to non-binary bodies?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I don’t consider it’s critical for everybody however it was vital to me. My breasts usually are not sexual objects. I hate the policing of the feminine nipple, they’re demonised and sexualised. By nullifying them each of this stuff 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 possibly can’t post a non-sexual photo of a female nipple. There is no such thing as a 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 think that is the long run of beauty?
Bonnie Bakeneko: I hope the long run of beauty is kinder above all else and I feel we’re beginning to get there. Archaic notions must 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 think that is actually owning it in difficult existing notions of beauty immediately?
Bonnie Bakeneko: Currently I feel drag queens are. Not only when it comes to beauty ideals but notions of gender and sexuality as well. You might have 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’ve got for individuals who don’t relate to mainstream beauty ideals?
Bonnie Bakeneko: Be yourself, be unique. Absolutely nobody has the authority to say you usually are not beautiful. At all times stay true to yourself otherwise you won’t ever find self-acceptance. Being comfortable in your personal skin is so way more essential than what others think.