A dominatrix and her devoted client: the best photos of Jiada Ripa

"Karen is a Japanese dominatrix and "rope artist" who ties up her clients in a way that reflects how samurai bound their prisoners. Her clients are mostly men in high-pressure jobs. Ten years ago, my father called and said he had found these astonishing images under a pile of maps and other things in the attic of our family home in Piedmont, northern Italy. He with an al…

Mathilde Ruinart, one of our ancestors, rode into the no-go areas and reportedly shot down a number of bandits.

I have always worked with historical archives. It was amazing to find this album, but I couldn't understand why it ended up in our house. I had to know and decided to look for clues. A year later, I found a 19th-century manuscript written by one of our ancestors, the intellectual and painter Mathilde Reinart. She was married to the first Italian ambassador to Japan, who was sent there in 1867 in part to help protect Japanese silkworms as a disease was ravaging the European silk industry. She had accompanied her husband—the journey took four months—and they stayed four years. It was a manuscript of his diary as well as letters detailing his time there.

I was so fascinated that I read them all in one night. While Beato is well known, no one had heard of this remarkable woman, who knew she was witnessing a major transition in Japan and wanted to leave a mark on her years there. With a gun in his uniform, he rode his horse through parts of the country off-limits to foreigners and reportedly once shot down a group of bandits.

Karen, who appears in this portrait, describes herself as a BDSM Dominatrix and a rope artist. She practices shibari by cross-dressing, tying and tying—a broader term than bondage. It is a visual and technical exercise of tying the body with a rope, which can be erotic or not. It originates from the way the samurai tie up their prisoners. Karen also practices kinbaku, a special term for binding tightly. He uses it intimately with his clients, who are mostly men with high social and professional pressures.

His practice allows them to step out of their everyday identities and express a side they cannot express elsewhere. He's a therapist for them, and they talk to him—it's not just a physical relationship, it's a cathartic experience. It allows her clients to transcend everyday life. The man in this picture is actually an assistant who worked with me on the project and agreed to be a part of this picture. The two talked and he decided how to tie her up. He had never experienced it before - and afterwards admitted he enjoyed it.