Nobuyoshi Araki is one of the masters of sensual and pleasurable photographic staging. The subjects of Kinbaku, the traditional Japanese art of bondage, are also included and, upon closer inspection, appear unposed, raising the question of what the photographs actually depict and negotiate. "Araki-esque: The Bondage Images of Nobuyoshi Araki" explores the ambiguity that the photographs of the Kinbaku series create through the interplay of staging and unposing. The question of what genre these photographs belong to cannot be answered definitively. Instead, it observes and describes which elements and layers lead to that ambiguity. The subjects thus open themselves up to reflection on what an image is. They oscillate between portrait, nude, and still life, while the contradictory and ambiguous nature is emphasized through the medium.