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Abby's Bio
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Storm
The Forecast is Fetish
The
statuesque Storm is a startling fetish presence on the New York City
scene, towering over all others at over six feet tall. Add on her usual
six-inch stilettos and a feather headdress and she’s flirting with
ceiling fans. I’ve watched as she has soared to new personal heights as
well, from a house domme at Arena and popular blood-curdling
performance artist to an international fetish model. The two of us had
a long conversation that was all over the psychological map.
ErosZine: Tell me a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up?
Storm: I grew up in a small town about two hours upstate from New York
City. All wineries and horse farms...really beautiful. I used to muck
out stalls in exchange for riding time at the local equestrienne
centers. But genteel country living was never really my taste; it
wasn’t long before my friends and I would secretly hop a train to
Manhattan to revel in the amazing club scene that was flourishing in
the mid-90s!
EZ: You perform a lot, often with piercing or blood involved. Is this a fetish of yours?
S: Blood does something for me. It’s raw, it’s warm, it’s dangerous, it’s alive, it’s real.
EZ: What was the genesis of the fetish?
S: I can’t say what the nascent point was for my fascination—perhaps my
extremely pious Catholic upbringing. Blood for me is a great simulacra
for the essence of what is sexy to me. It’s a symbol for violence,
death and passion, but also the source of the flushed cheek, the
fluttering pulse, the swollen lip. Being able to share blood with a
lover is an unbelievable act of intimacy, more intimate then any kind
of intercourse.
EZ: Do you have any other fetishes?
S: I have quite a medical fetish, which I often observe going
hand-in-hand with blood fetish. Anything involving examinations,
medical restraints, IVs, breathing mechanisms, injections, surgery,
etc.—although keep those catheters away from me, please! Fashion-wise
I’m obsessed with creamy, fragrant rubber; fully -fashioned stockings;
teetering, dangerous shoes; kimonos; brightly colored hair and unusual
tattoos.
EZ: Tell me more about latex!
S: I suppose that many latex enthusiasts would categorize me as a
“fashion fetishist,” but I have to say, rubber shorts covered in
clusters of shining ruffles, latex stockings with Cuban heels,
elaborate corsetry or lingerie, all these things are just as fun in the
playroom as they are beautiful in a photograph! Vex Clothing, Pressure
Corsets, HW Designs—these designers have helped my latex fetish evolve
in different ways. Now if I could only get a federal grant for my
wardrobe!
EZ: What about feathers? I’ve seen you wear them a lot.
S: Well, I’ve always been a bit of an amateur milliner. I love hats and
hairpieces. But I have to mention Y Santi Azul, who has recently been
kind enough to share her amazing feather headdress creations with me
for events and shoots.
EZ: Personally, I love all your amazing eyelash attachments!
S: I’ve been known to spend my last five dollars on a sweet pair of lashes. The feather fetish comes in here too! Hah!
EZ: You're over six feet tall. Tell us about your goddess worshiping fans.
S: [Laughs] Height seems to have a very powerful effect on people’s
psyche. It’s hard for me to appreciate, being 6’1” since the age of 16.
Some women feel uncomfortable with it, like I am being domineering just
by entering the room. In general I find that men of all heights love it
though. One of my most common sessions when I was domming involved me
standing next to a much shorter man and comparing our heights in the
mirror!
EZ: What size shoe do you wear? Any foot worship tales you like to share?
S: I wear a size 11. I once asked a foot worshipper why many foot
fetishists tend to seek out women with large feet. His response made
perfect sense: “It’s like a woman with large breasts to us!”
EZ: You always look startlingly different. I love you in blue or purple hair. What moves you to be such a chameleon?
S: Well, I’m a Gemini and, true to form, I am constantly getting bored
with things, seeking change, etc. I love inventing new personas,
transforming my accoutrements to allow me to try new things!. My hair
has always been my main frontier; it’s a practical choice, as hair
always grows back! I also love to see people smile when they see me
walk down the street. I see myself as bringing a bit of color to their
day.
EZ: The photos on your sight are just stunning! Some of them take my
breath away. The pix by Zenas Kwon are especially disturbing and
amazing. What was it like working with him?
S: [Laughs] Thank you! Zenas is an interesting story. He was an
amazingly talented photography student at SVA (School of Visual Arts).
I would be called to model for his photography classes and he would
often coax me to stay later to work on special projects. His subject
matter was almost always dark, fragile and a little bit gory. Most of
the other models didn’t want to take risks like that with their
portfolios, but to me this was heaven.
EZ: Tell me about some of your other shoots. Grueling? Fun? Sick? Scary?
S: Well, probably all of the above at one point or another. Generally,
though, I have fun! I’m very relaxed in front of the camera and I
usually find that this puts the photographer at ease as well. A
positive, humble attitude can mean the difference between a rough shoot
and a fun shoot.
EZ: You're an artist as well as a model. What do you enjoy most?
S: Modeling is not important to me; it’s an opportunity that has fallen
in my lap and I’m going to enjoy it while I can! But I’ll always be an
artist first. I’m grateful for the opportunities my modeling has given
me to expose some of my more serious projects as well.
EZ: Tell me about your video work; you produce, direct and edit?
S: Yes! All of the above. I am definitely not Hollywood headed though.
My proudest moment was when a girl watching one of my installation
shorts actually threw up! [Laughs] I love challenging people visually;
it’s a very quick way to learn complex things.
EZ: And what about videos that you've appeared in?
S: Only a few so far and I’m not going to promote them. I can’t even
watch them! Seeing myself on video makes me squirm. I’m hoping to
someday work with Gwen Media, though. I love their videos.
EZ: Is it hard to be in a video when you shoot as well? Do you find yourself thinking "I can do this better/faster/etc.?”
S: It’s difficult sometimes when they are controlling a representation
of yourself. I’m like, “No! I’m going to look like a monster!” [Laughs]
But there is only so much you can say to the director without making
them upset. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and let people
learn from their mistakes themselves. Fortunately I’ve been able to
work with some awesome people as well, people that I learned a lot from
myself.
EZ: What's the deal with those eerie sea creatures on your web site? They set the site sooooo apart...they are lovely and weird.
S: Those are sketches from Ernst Haekel! He was an artist and a
biologist who drew catalogues of microscopic life, sea life and other
invertebrates. He was exposed later in his career as a fraud; some of
the creatures he had simply made up! I am such a geek for things like
this! I secretly spend any free moment I have researching obscure
biology, dead languages, obsolete religions and mathematical theories.
Oh yeah, and I think nerds are sexy. [Laughter]
EZ: You've been appearing lately at BadAss, doing burlesque, but what
you do is actually more along the performance art lines. Tell us about
this side of your personality.
S: I’m definitely not a strip-tease kind of girl. I appreciate the
skill in my friends so much, because I feel like it’s not something I
have in me. But Velocity and Ammo were kind enough to include me from
the start. They knew that this kind of joyful, uncensored, hysterically
funny but controversial kind of artistic environment would turn me on.
It’s such an important kind of event for times like these. The
beautiful girls in pasties aren’t bad either. [Laughs]
EZ: And I know you've left this behind, but tell me about being a dominatrix. Did you enjoy it?
S: I did enjoy some of it. Any dominatrix will have good sessions and
bad sessions. Primarily I left the scene behind because I was starting
to feel thin, like butter spread over too much bread. For me, a session
is a deeply personal, intimate and meaningful moment between two people
in a spirit of trust. Often I would have to wrest this kind of trust
from cranky, jaded or aggressive clients. But even the ones who melted
and gave in were draining. I think I left it behind because I cared too
much. It was exhausting.
EZ: Is it just out of your system now?
S: The domme cravings are still there and I still see some regulars
from time to time. I definitely have a playful, sadistic streak that
tends to pop out. I just have to be more discerning about who I indulge
myself with these days.
EZ: You're traveling to fetish events around the world now. What's that like?
S: Amazing. Every time I go to a fetish event far away, I leave with a
knot in my stomach, not knowing what to expect. Every time I return to
New York with a warm heart and lots of love from new friends! It’s also
fascinating to see the different demographics and cultures respond in
unique ways towards the issues of sex and fetish. I generally find, the
more conservative a country’s mainstream society is, the wilder the
fetish parties! I’m hoping to do all I can to help bring the New York
scene to a higher level as well, since we’ve suffered the blow of
Giulianism.
EZ: You've worked with a zillion exotic and interesting people:
photographers, other models, producers, promoters. Any exciting stories
to share, secrets to divulge, dirt to dish, or just let us know who you
enjoy.
S: If I started making lists here, I would be in big trouble! Hahaha! I
guess I would have to mention my friends Darenzia and Aprella here in
New York. The three of us have become so close, and give each other so
much support. It’s wonderful to have a little family in your home town!
I’d also have to mention Leda Resurreccion of Arena studios, who gave
me my first opportunities to perform, and still continues to guide and
inspire me. She’s truly a powerhouse of creativity. There are too many
photographers to mention, but I have yet to have a bad experience.
Nearly everyone I’ve ever worked with has become a dear friend. I don’t
think I could be luckier. Man, if I started gossiping though, I’d never
work again! Let’s say I have some pretty sweet stories, though.
EZ: You appear fairly complex psychologically...perhaps a bit deeper
than most. What are your demons, inspirations, dreams, nightmares?
S: Oooh. That’s a big one! I actually attribute a great deal of my
creativity to the fact that I’ve been plagued by horrible nightmares,
nightly, since I was a child. It’s something that I’m working on,
trying to develop my lucidity in sleep. The images are like alien radio
though, nothing that I could ever invent on my own. Besides that, I’m a
daydreamer as well. I love to slip off into abstract fantasy, make long
lists of unrelated objects, make connections with animals, make plans
for the apocalypse. I guess I’ve never really grown up.
EZ: Thank you for your time, Storm. Everyone can visit you at www.tempestnyc.com.
[Written May 2005]
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