"Drowned, Pleasured, and Veiled" is a series of photographs performed through the bodies of myself and my partner. The series explores themes of gender dynamics, intimacy, violence, desire, and shame. I photograph myself and my partner as bodies and subjects, but the images are not inherently self-portraits. The images reflect both personal experiences and constructed archetypes which are embodied and performed by myself and my partner through gesture and interaction. The gestures are borrowed from instructional manuals and classical painting alongside interactions inspired from past experience. The gestures clash with the setting, which at times calls forward youth, innocence and nostalgia. The partnered images are paired with self-portraits performing acts of picking and pulling which are bodily representations of obsession and discomfort. Through movement, the body can convey yearning, vulnerability, severity, and power. Referencing the legacy of photographic objectification through the male erotic gaze, I take on the role of the voyeur and the exhibitionist, performing and subverting the role of the “object”. In the manipulation of my body, I navigate how my body exists in space as an object to be perceived and challenged. The gestures shift between violence, intimacy, or a departure from legibility. This body of work plays off of expectations and experiences to challenge and confront the viewer.