In this series of photographic works Sherry Wiggins and photographer Luís Branco have explored the elemental connection of the feminine body/mind to the natural world and to water in the beautiful Alentejo region of Portugal. Wiggins performs in these images in several locations; in a deep canyon, a river, a lake and in a dry reservoir. Various fabrics are used to cover, reveal and extend the feminine form. A mirror is utilized to both reflect the environment and Wiggins’ figure. Wiggins is revealed in these portraits as both an older woman and a strong feminine archetype – a goddess like figure wrapped in red cloth in the mystical Pego do Sino (Canyon of the Bells), a veiled matriarch submerged and bowing in the Rio Sever, a shrouded woman reclining on a rock in the reflective “eye” of the lake, a woman observing the dry earth and the dying waters at Santa Susanna and finally Wiggins’ figure is mirrored in the golden light of the sunset. These portraits reflect universal themes of life, of death, of aging and of our deep psychic and physical connection to nature.
(photography by Luís Branco)