About me
My name is Andrei Tanto.
I am a photographer and rope artist working within the Japanese aesthetics of shibari/kinbaku. I have been deeply involved in this path since 2010.
I first discovered the works of Japanese masters in the early 2010s. What caught my attention was not the “exotic” side of it, nor provocation, as many people assume, but the visual aesthetics themselves. The way an ordinary rope could be used to create a composition with the human body. Lines, tension, asymmetry, balance, the empty space between forms. It all felt almost like living graphics.
The works of Naka Akira and Riccardo Wildties had a strong influence on me at that time.
Interestingly, their styles were almost geometrically opposite to one another. Like yin and yang. Yet in both cases there was something essential I could feel: it was not simply work with rope, but work with a woman, with interaction, emotion, state of mind, and dialogue.
Rope came into my life first. Photography followed later.
Shibari always seemed incredibly photogenic to me, but at some point I realized that I did not yet have the skills to capture and convey the beauty I saw in it myself. That was when I began studying photography and bought my first camera.
Since then, rope for me has remained not only a way of interaction between people, but also a tool for creating composition. Perhaps that is why photography and shibari have never really existed separately in my life.
I feel much closer to Japanese tradition and minimalism than to the European interpretation of rope art. Though for me, shibari is not only about historical form. It is also an artistic language. A form of dialogue. A way to express emotion, tension, and atmosphere without words.
I cannot single out one element as the most important: technique, safety, connection, emotion, visual composition, the atmosphere of a frame. What matters to me is the harmony between all these elements. When one does not destroy the other.
Over the years I have participated in many events and festivals:
• RopeFest SPb 2015
• RopeFest SPb 2016
• ShiFest Belarus 2017
• RopeFest Moscow 2018
• RopeFest SPb 2019
• 1st Shibari Convention Chile, Santiago 2025
From 2015 to 2019 I was also a regular participant of BondageCafe SPb, organized private bondage apartment gatherings in Saint Petersburg, and took part in themed events across many Russian cities including Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Tyumen, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg.
One of the warmest memories for me remains ShiFest 2017 in Vitebsk, Belarus. Probably one of the most emotionally meaningful festivals in my journey.
Over the years I have come to realize that the words “bondage,” “shibari,” and “kinbaku” are both important and insufficient at the same time. Terminology helps people understand each other, especially when it comes to finding partners or defining the nature of interaction. But there has never been a universal agreement on what these words truly mean. Which is why the more important question eventually becomes:
For some, it is aesthetics.
For others, a practice of control.
For some, performance art.
For others, a way of exploring themselves and another person.
I think everyone has their own answer.
Sometimes people ask me who I consider myself to be more: a photographer, a rigger, an artist, a performer?
Honestly, I do not separate these things. To me, they are simply different facets of the same path.
Today I am still inspired by participating in international festivals, continuing to evolve visually, and sharing experience with others. Recently I have also started posting short educational videos. From time to time I think about creating my own photography exhibition. The idea is still slowly forming somewhere inside me, but perhaps one day it will become reality too.
Thank you to everyone who has been walking this path alongside me through all these years.
And to those who have only just arrived on this channel — welcome.