Angus Stewart has spent 10 years backstage with London's burlesque community, getting to know the performers and documenting their shared world to create what he calls 'a family album'. From the beginning, his focus was on the personalities, rather than the performances. He deliberately eschews the 'big reveal'. Instead, his photographs capture the friendships, the laughter and the camaraderie that characterise the burlesque scene. We are introduced to a thriving community that values dedication and loyalty, and where the exotic is always laced with humour; and we hear from performers Rara Avis, Belle de Beauvoir, Cerise Rei, Lady Cheek, Lady May, Lynn Ruth Miller and Vixen Victoire. Burlesque can be provocative, it can be political, and it can be serious. But it can also be a lot of fun.
