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# Project Description SOFT FETISH Rosie Oh Summary Final work Rosie Oh was born in Daegu, South Korea, and spent her childhood in Palos Verdes, California before returning to Korea and eventually relocating to the United Kingdom. Early immersion in vastly different cultures forged a relentless and uncompromising lens through which she approaches her work. She scrutinises and fetishises subjects with a sharply ASD/ADHD-informed perspective, devoid of sexual connotation, and relishes the ways these perceptions materialise differently across North America, Europe, and East Asia. Now based in London, Rosie wields photography, tattoos, and jewellery as instruments to confront and interrogate the tension between internal constraint and liberation, treating oppression itself as a provocative form of release. Rosie Oh was born in Daegu, South Korea, and spent her childhood in Palos Verdes, Californi... College London College of Fashion Course MA Fashion Photography Graduation year 2025 The term fetish derives from the German fetisch, itself adopted into European intellectual discourse through early studies in religion and anthropology. Originally employed to describe objects of devotion or forms of excessive attachment, its semantic field was broad and non-sexual. Over time, however, the meaning has been polluted, increasingly confined to the register of sexual deviation and desire. This project seeks to recover and reposition the term, returning it to its broader significance as a marker of pure and unconditioned indulgence. The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates an act of compassion that emerges not from codified obligations or institutionalised law, but from an inner impulse and affective attachment. What is decisive here is that the Samaritan’s response is not the product of normative ethics in its formal sense, but rather the result of a latent inclination that operates at the level of affect and attraction. The notion of the “soft fetish” designates a form of attachment that is distinct from the explicit or overtly sexualised intensity of the “hard fetish.” Instead, it describes a subtle and often concealed fascination with ordinary objects or gestures, through which otherwise mundane phenomena are endowed with unexpected resonance and meaning. When these two frameworks are brought together, the Samaritan’s action can be read as a form of “ethical fetishism.” His intervention is not compelled by law or religious authority but activated by a momentary and almost involuntary pull towards the suffering other. This pull, though hidden from institutional ethics, proves to be more powerful, resonating with the way a soft fetish invests everyday objects with a latent force that exceeds their apparent banality. In this sense, the Good Samaritan does not merely exemplify obedience to moral duty; rather, he embodies an affective orientation that can be described as a kind of soft fetish of compassion. Such a reading suggests that ethical practice is not exhausted by the logic of obligation, but may also be understood as arising from the subtle intensities of attachment and fascination. This offers a productive theoretical intersection between religious-ethical discourse and the conceptual vocabulary of fetishism. Final work The Good Samaritan; SOFT FETISH The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates an act of compassion that emerges not from codified obligations or institutionalised law, but from an inner impulse and affective attachment. What is decisive here is that the Samaritan’s response is not the product of normative ethics in its formal sense, but rather the result of a latent inclination that operates at the level of affect and attraction. The notion of the “soft fetish” designates a form of attachment that is distinct from the explicit or overtly sexualised intensity of the “hard fetish.” Instead, it describes a subtle and often concealed fascination with ordinary objects or gestures, through which otherwise mundane phenomena are endowed with unexpected resonance and meaning. When these two frameworks are brought together, the Samaritan’s action can be read as a form of “ethical fetishism.” His intervention is not compelled by law or religious authority but activated by a momentary and almost involuntary pull towards the suffering other. This pull, though hidden from institutional ethics, proves to be more powerful, resonating with the way a soft fetish invests everyday objects with a latent force that exceeds their apparent banality. In this sense, the Good Samaritan does not merely exemplify obedience to moral duty; rather, he embodies an affective orientation that can be described as a kind of soft fetish of compassion. Such a reading suggests that ethical practice is not exhausted by the logic of obligation, but may also be understood as arising from the subtle intensities of attachment and fascination. This offers a productive theoretical intersection between religious-ethical discourse and the conceptual vocabulary of fetishism. View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery THE HEAD The female body in media is subjected to processes of fragmentation and dismemberment, whereby it is sacralised, reduced to distorted ideals, and exhibited as discrete, objectified parts. View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery Share this project The term fetish derives from the German fetisch, itself adopted into European intellectual discourse through early studies in religion and anthropology. Originally employed to describe objects of devotion or forms of excessive attachment, its semantic field was broad and... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard Browse related work Aesthetics Identity Sexuality Feminism Fetish
# Links ## Official page - https://ualshowcase.arts.ac.uk/project/676903/cover ## External - https://www.instagram.com/rosiepetale - http://rosiepetale.com - tel:4407570739343 - mailto:eau@rosiepetale.com - https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F676903%2Fcover&text=SOFT+FETISH - https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F676903%2Fcover&media=https%3A%2F%2Fportfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F08204650%2Frosie-oh-final-1.jpg&description=SOFT+FETISH