Needy Noir is a collection of photographs and poems exploring the complicated history of black female sensuality and the personhood of black women and femmes who choose to embrace it by Raven Elise.
Inspired by works like Kenichi Murata’s Secret Dreams of Erotic Princess book duology and Mickalene Thomas’ I am your sister installation, Raven joins a wave of female photographers taking a unique approach to looking at erotic portraits of the female body. For a long time, “sexy” pictures of women were often only shot by and for the enjoyment of men. This, coupled with a society-wide objectification of the black female body, creates a perfect storm for black women who choose to tap into their own desires. Raven seeks to reframe their sensuality and needs as beautiful and necessary, not shameful and pornographic. As well as reminding viewers that these people are much more than sexuality itself.
In these intimate portraits of the black feminine community around her, Raven explores female desire through collaboration with her subjects in their own personal bedroom. Their bedrooms become a theoretical site of autonomy and their personal histories. Within those walls, they belong to no one but themselves. In these moments with her subjects, the Jezebel myth dizzoles and all that is left is joy and the beauty of sensuality without imposition.

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