Two years after Private Pleasures, an exhibition dedicated to the Lusty Lady series — a series of photographs Cammie Toloui made while working as a stripper in San Francisco’s early 1990s — the photographer returns to Shmorévaz for a conversation about her latest project as the first artist-in-residence at Mary’s Club, Portland’s oldest and most beloved strip club.

No longer a direct participant but an observer of the transactions between dancers and clients, Toloui explores how issues of consent play out in the crowded environment of a strip club, preserving anonymity by using a thermal imaging camera — a technology typically employed to detect the heat signatures of buildings or machinery. “Stripping away the visual noise of normal life to show just our core heat […] the images expose the invisible transference of yearning that money carries. It is a potent symbol of the patriarchy and its brother, capitalism.” (Toloui) Cash, too, is only visible for as long as it retains the warmth of the person who just held it.

A study of connection and consent, Toloui’s So Hot series now expands into sex clubs, orgies, personal dungeons, and events like the World Naked Bike Ride.

The copyrights of all included images remain with the individual copyrights holders. Reproduction, printing and downloading of any content is prohibited by copyrights laws and international conventions without the express written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved. The images are all © Cammie Toloui

So Hot 
Conversation Cammie Toloui & Salomé Burstein.
19.09.25