For ten long, service-filled years, Damcho Dyson's only clothes were the plain, loose-fitting religious robes that Tibetan monks wear day in, day out. These days, however, she's opting for something a bit less conservative.

The Australian-born artist, now in her late 40s, first became interested in religion at age 23 during a time of intense personal challenges. She dabbled with both Tibetan Buddhism and Christian Mysticism for a while, before finally dedicating herself to the former at age 29. 

Damcho shaved her head, let go of most of her earthly possessions, and started living the simple life of a monastic nun at a Tibetan monastery in France. She learned to forgo her own selfish needs and live a life of service to others, including a brief stint as an attendant to the Dalai Lama himself!

"I’d been celibate for 10 years," she explains, "and, as a nun, my practice meant my brain was able to override my bodily needs."

Eventually, however, the pressure of having to always represent the ideal of a good nun - celibate, emotionally reserved, able to endure hours of service with little regard for her own needs - proved to be too much. Damcho found herself feeling burnt out and went to an Ayurvedic hospital in India to heal herself. That's where everything changed.

As part of her treatment, she received a series of massages which gradually made her question her commitment to her monastic lifestyle. "One day on the massage bench, I had a graceful sense of my body and my mind reconnecting," she recalls. "I recognized that my body was not separate from my mind."

That moment led her to realize that she was ready to let her body explore again, and she gradually transitioned back to the life of a regular woman. Damcho eventually moved to London, which is where she struck up a friendship with a couture designer who specialized in latex clothing. The designer helped her try a few pieces on after she expressed her curiosity about them, and she instantly felt drawn to it.

"Immediately, I recognized that wearing latex is a ritual. It was at once similar to my experience of wearing robes, and at the same time could not be further from the protocol or appearance of donning monastic clothing."

Today, Damcho is a frequent visitor to latex shops and fetish clubs, as well as an MPhil/PhD candidate at London's Royal College of Art where she's exploring the idea of rituals and how they relate to both Buddhism and latex/BDSM. She's crowdfunding her research, so if you're interested in helping her out, check out her GoFundMe page.