Eyes to Feel

Create a sharing of visions, an exchange, a dialogue. Curiosity acts as a driving force, the need for sharing acts as a support. I watch, observe, study, with pure curiosity to discover the other. I let myself be observed and studied by the pure curiosity of the other. The exchange devoid of judgment, becomes an intimate, vulnerable dialogue, full of curiosity and reflection, preconceptions, fears and judgmental thoughts emerge, but remain aside. The experience of observing and being observed becomes an acknowledgement of the preconceptions that automatically envelop us.

Healing takes time, it requires a lot of patience, courage and love. Sometimes you have to destroy everything in order to rebuild, to be reborn, but it takes time and behind each wound there lies what makes us truly human. It takes time to heal is a project about fragility and resilience, a series of photographs, combinations of images taken over the last five years. It is my way of transcending pain, the anxiety of everyday life, of going beyond my fears in an attempt to make the human experience universal, to gather and unite the living.

Between the body and the self, nature and the imagery of home, the ephemeral and eternity, the series is a diary exploring my childhood, my definition of home, mortality, death and family. It traces a story of a happy childhood and a story of violence and its integration from the sexual abuses I suffered later on from the age of 20 till now in different relationships. My family has always been a support, big trees from which I could hang and feel safe. Recently diagnosed with HSV-1-2 after experiencing a sexual abuse, I want to document the journey of my self, my body, and its evolution.

Torsos is an ode to the human body. While Jesse was growing up they felt quite alienated with being naked, feeling the need to always cover themselves up, even when taking a shower on their own. After embracing their queerness and meeting like-minded queers, they slowly felt more comfortable in their own skin. This was the moment that Jesse felt the need to work on representation that a lot of people missed. Where queerness and diversity are being celebrated instead of being hidden.