Giada Ripa on Photographing a Japanese Dominatrix

Giada Ripa's contribution to The Guardian's 'best photograph' series centres on a portrait of Karen, a Japanese dominatrix who practises kinbaku rope binding rooted in samurai prisoner restraint techniques. The piece connects Ripa's contemporary documentary work to a 19th-century Felice Beato album of Japan, discovered in her family's Piemonte attic.