Sleeping Venus, presumably started by Giorgione and finished by Titian, c. 1510, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany.

let’s shoot by the small rock

horizontal landscape womanscape

last light first light works better

Giorgione or was it Titian? What were you thinking?

red satin resting, arm akimbo

eyes closed eyes open

naked, nude except the wig

cover crotch with hand

is she playing, sleeping?

focused, the relationship understood

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

my angels / my goddesses arrive

the studio prepared, black cloth

the mirror, always the mirror

a blond but really silver

no butt crack

except for Eros / Cupid / Marta

the slim curves of their buttocks

my broad curving backside

blond Venus in the mirror

or is it Aphrodite?

why do they call her Venus?

Venus is also Ishtar’s star

this image is important to me

he shoots over and over

changing the lights, the lens, his distance

I look in the mirror back at him, the lens

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

it’s raining

we move to the casa

coffee, wine, special cheese

we try shooting in the small bedroom

Aphrodite rising attended by the Horae,

it doesn’t really work

we end up together in the bed

enveloped by my goddesses

in the morning we return to the rock

we dance, sing, smoke cigarettes

he keeps shooting

maybe some good ones

the three goddesses

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

Aphrodite / Venus series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

sun comes up, last shots

more coffee

my Horae / Angels / Goddesses depart

keep to the schedule

time for my other goddess Inanna / Ishtar

golden horns, the two lions, lapis necklace

Inanna / Ishtar series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

early morning at Evoramonte

moon almost full

settling down

my lioness supports me

it’s fucking windy cold

Inanna / Ishtar series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

dawn arrives

a rainbow vista from the top of the mountain

my lioness near

I / Inanna / Ishtar stand strong

Inanna / Ishtar series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

last night

in the studio

Ishtar with our golden girdle

Angels of Light on repeat

I hold my breasts

full frontal don’t move

I am the goddess

the lights the lens

a meditation…

Inanna / Ishtar series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

Inanna / Ishtar series, Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, 2024.

I wrote the text above, “Slide Show Side Show,” after returning from the OBRAS Artist Residency in Portugal in late October. The text describes a bit of the process (which can be both improvisational and painstaking) that Luís Branco and I go through during our photoshoots–this last time with my heroines Aphrodite / Venus and Inanna / Ishtar. Marta Leon and Marta Carocinho stood by as Aphrodite / Venus’ Horae (goddesses of the seasons and of time). Wilma Geldof and Jacinta Ganso assisted as Inanna / Ishtar’s lionesses. After returning from Portugal, I let the work “rest” for several weeks. During the last part of November and early December I went through the editing process (with Luís’ help). I looked through the hundreds of images we shot to select the images we want to produce. Ron Landucci has done the final corrections to the images and is currently printing the proofs. I am very happy with this last body of work and I am now preparing to embody Claude Cahun in February at the La Napoule Art Foundation in France with Luís.

Wishing you the best for the New Year.