Torn apart

22nd March 2018

I can’t watch.

I turn on my one good heel and cumbersome ski boot and escape towards the kitchen. I hear the angelic patience of the team as they delicately guide Chris’s arm through the flippant latex. Everyone breathes in. I’m peering from the doorframe through cracked fingers. The fabric violently rips in half for the umpteenth time. I decide to make tea.

I swivel around to see the ‘Pandora’s’ box in the corner of the kitchen. A small tail pokes out like an antenna and searches for life.

Each couple were different to shoot despite the similar drill. Watching how couples embrace, communicate and move was fascinating. Height suddenly became a defining factor in the pose. Apple boxes and crates scattered either side of the frame. They needed to stay intensely still and this pushed the tension to an occasional meditative silence.

The addition of another subject usually complicates the engagement (three’s a crowd). But instead of a voyeur, the dynamic felt balanced. The two lovers, clutching together acutely aware of their bodies tangled in delicate fabric. We all felt suspended.

oao x