Robert Mapplethorpe likened the naked body to a flower. A subject of immense beauty. To me, such beauty infers delicacy. Because of the vulnerability of a photographer and model working together. Because of traditions in which naked images are a vehicle to oppression, objectification and sexualisation. To photograph a naked body is to pull on a rope of history. A rope meant to be cut if immoral or to be woven further if aligning with one’s own morals.
My interest in the nude is simple. The mechanism that the human body entails – its forms, distributions of weight, its composition and character of transformation – fascinates me. A mechanism as is, removed from romanticising, glorification and objectification. A sculpture in itself but breathing, beating and twitching. A subject of endless intricacies to be marvelled at.

“Sculptural studies” started as self-inflicted homework. Since I wished to delve into nude photography, I sought to communicate what I wanted to involve others in. With a background in figurative drawing and nude modelling, I therefore photographed myself. The process entailed quarrels of socialisation deeply embedded, ridicule internalised and insecurities half-hidden – surprising but not novel. The experience was challenging but fruitful in its teaching which I hope to use in further works with this subject.

The flower bloomed. The thorn stung. But the flower still bloomed.