Sheree Rose (born September 22, 1941) is an American photographer and performance artist. She is most widely recognized for her long‑term artistic collaboration with performance artist Bob Flanagan, with whom she explored themes of sadomasochism, chronic illness, sexuality, and mortality. Rose’s photographic work documents a broad range of Los Angeles subcultures, particularly those associated with BDSM, body modification, and the punk scene.
Early life and education
Rose was raised in a Jewish family in Los Angeles. After an early marriage in 1964, during which she and her first husband worked as teachers, she divorced and pursued graduate studies, earning a master’s degree from California State University, Northridge in the 1970s. During this period she became active in socialist‑feminist and consciousness‑raising groups and participated in the emerging punk community.
Artistic career
Photography – Rose worked as the primary photographer for the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, Los Angeles. Her subjects included musicians and artists such as Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, writer Dennis Cooper, poet Amy Gerstler, and poet David Trinidad.
Collaboration with Bob Flanagan – Rose met Flanagan in 1980; the two formed both a romantic partnership and an artistic one that lasted until Flanagan’s death in 1996. Their collaborative work centered on BDSM community organizing, including the establishment of the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Janus. Notable joint projects include the performance piece Nailed (1989) and the widely toured museum exhibition Visiting Hours (first shown at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 1992), which combined text, video, and live performance to examine the intersection of illness and SM. Their partnership is documented in the 1997 documentary Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist.
Later collaborations – Since 2011, Rose has worked with British performance artist Martin O’Brien, continuing to investigate BDSM and the experience of living with cystic fibrosis.
Archives and legacy
The combined archives of Rose and Flanagan are housed at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries. Rose’s work remains influential in discussions of body politics, queer sexuality, and the documentation of underground cultural movements.
Selected works
- Visiting Hours (performance exhibition, 1992)
- Nailed (performance piece, 1989)
- Photographic series documenting Los Angeles punk and BDSM communities
Personal life
Rose married Bob Flanagan in 1989; he died of complications from cystic fibrosis in 1996. She continues to live and work in Los Angeles.