The Touch (1,2,3)

This image is inspired by a photograph from the 1912 ballet L’Après-midi d’un faune, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky with music by Claude Debussy, based on Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem of the same name. The ballet was created for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. In the photograph, the dancers appear as muses, dressed in classical Greek attire. I was struck by a particular gesture of touch, which I incorporated into the painting as a symbol of connection. Although the original models were a man and a woman, the way their bodies are presented blurs identity and gender—only one figure remains clearly defined. There is no narrative explanation offered, nor a desire to provide one. Yet as viewers, we instinctively search for meaning, trying to piece together fragments into something familiar. This ambiguity becomes the starting point for countless possible stories.