VEX ASHLEY's Four Chambers
Updated: Oct 24, 2022
INTERVIEW BY PENELOPE DARIO
When discussing the creative excellence that this industry holds, Vex Ashley and her production company A four Chambered Heart are at the forefront. Vex is a UK-based artist, former cam girl turned director, producer, and performer known for the highbrow porn she creates. This season, Petit Mort has the pleasure of sharing a printed teaser of her film “Doll Parts.” The multi-talented Vex sat down with us to talk a bit about the making of this film as well as the repeal of the UK’s obscenity laws, what that means for Four Chambers, the “idea” of the Bimbo, and what we can expect to see coming out of this unique studio.
IMAGE COURTESY OF VEX ASHLEY
PETIT MORT (PENELOPE DARIO)
Hi Vex, thank you for sitting down with us. Let’s get right to it. What originally sparked your inspiration to create Four Chambers?
VEX ASHLEY
I was paying my way through art school as a cam girl and I wanted to see if I could put the same consideration for the aesthetics and concepts into the porn I was making as I did in my artwork. I was spending a lot of time building community on Tumblr, and it felt like a place where it was possible to share work with sex independently and creatively. I didn’t see the potential of porn as a medium for creative ideas being explored, so it felt like a place of really rich potential.
PM
Your work stands out in the erotic film space due to your high production value and creative direction. Where do you most often draw your references from? Are you inspired by any fellow porn creators, or more so by artists in the vanilla world?
VEX
I’m endlessly inspired, both by other porn makers and by influences outside of that world. I feel like porn and sex are often banished to this separate, private space but it’s infused by all the facets of our existence, and I like to explore those connections. Going to porn film festivals, seeing the work of other creators, I always leave with new perspectives and new things I’m hot for and want to explore.
PM
We love your film Doll Parts and are so excited to see it translated to print. How did the original concept come about?
VEX
I’d been fascinated by bimbo hypnosis recordings. These are audio files where someone’s soft voice is supposedly hypnotising you to be a stupid, cock obsessed fuck doll. I was thinking about the idea of the bimbo and refusing to buy into the expectation that women should be serious, studious, and demure to be “worthwhile” in society. The original bimbos for me were Russ Meyer girls: voluptuous, powerful, big hair and guns. I loved the idea of a campy 70’s intoxication bimbo femdom fantasy, femme on femme.
PM
How closely do you try to stay to your original ideas when attempting to execute them? How much room do you allow for improvisation, and have you ever been happily surprised by the result of unexpected changes?
VEX
We use a mood board and generally plan a concept and an idea, but on the day of, everything is up for interpretation and/or negotiation. I always find shoots go better when the sex isn’t too scripted and you let the performers go where feels hot for them at the time.
[This method] often throws up shots, acts, or energy that is unexpected but really makes the film.
PM
We heard that the UK’s obscenity laws changed recently—how has this affected your creative endeavors? Do you feel this gave you more freedom?
VEX
It has! There’s a few films of ours that were right on the edge that now I feel are liberated. It made us want to lean right into that line to play with edges [of what is socially acceptable]. But the catch is, though the laws have relaxed, it is now the payment processors who control what content is “acceptable” and they’ve only become more draconian. It’s such a constant uphill battle for freedom of expression.
PM
Can you share anything about your upcoming films? Are there any ideas or taboos you are eager to explore in the future?
VEX
We have a few in the pipeline! I’m itching to make something warm, soft, and bright after a pandemic of making films about the technological isolation of being stuck indoors glued to screens. I have a special project with my friend Valerie August, about unpacking the idea of what having a Mommy kink and the mother archetype in sex means for those choosing to be childless.
I also really want to shoot an orgy. Craving an excess of human touch right now.
VEX ASHLEY INTERVIEWED BY PM PHOTOS COURTESY OF VEX ASHLEY