I have been sorting through all the images that photographer Luis Branco took (with me as the subject) while I was in Portugal. There are many significant images here and a “body” of work that I am quite excited by.

The images on top of the castle at Evoramonte are the best ones yet. Luis accomplishes a beautiful sense of form and space in these images. The architecture is abstract – you can’t tell that it is a castle in Portugal, but you get this sense of the structure and the vast horizon. The subject – the female form or Me in black cloth is alternately confined by the architecture, but also takes control of the space and finds her own place and power. It is also clear that She/Me is an older female. The swath of black cloth gives strength to the female form and also offers a sense of a protected feminine space – like the mantle of a Queen. In the image where I face the camera with the black cloth over my face, Me/She again uses the cloth as a veil of both power and protection. In the vertical image on the ground – She/Me faces the camera with hair covering My/Her face – asserting Her/My own sense of feminine space and connection to the ground and horizon.

Here I have posted a selection of 7 of the images that I particularly like and indicate the direction of this project. I am very thankful for the support granted me by the Obras Foundation in Portugal to accomplish this work and also for the wonderful collaboration that Luis Branco and I have made.