My friends, Jorge and Mathias, along with Shimaya from Beyond Nudity, invited me on a walk outside of Amsterdam. All they asked was that I photograph a ritual—nothing more. On the way there, as we crossed a quiet stream, I saw a heron. It stood motionless on a stone, its ancient silhouette and piercing gaze. The heron felt like an omen as it unfolded its wings and slowly flew away.
We continued our walk, and soon we stopped at a large uprooted tree, rising from the ground like a backdrop holding ancient secrets. The three of them began to remove their clothes. It quickly became clear that the ritual would be a symbolic journey, filled with shamanistic and pagan elements. A transformation that reflected the stages of alchemy—from darkness and dissolution to light and wholeness, from nigredo to rubedo.
Was this some kind of artistic expression, a way to challenge their own limits, or something entirely different? I was judgmental, perhaps because I didn’t understand what they were trying to convey. But the camera captured what I saw, even though I wasn’t sure what I was experiencing. They seemed unaware of my presence, but perhaps I was still part of the ritual, a spectator who would later share this moment with others who weren’t there.
In the ritual’s dynamics, gender roles became apparent. The men’s presence felt like a source of power, but it was the woman who carried a special symbolism. She represented memento mori, the reminder of death’s constant presence, our fleeting nature. The clay that covered their bodies connected them to the earth, as if they were returning to something primal and eternal.
The ritual ended as the participants sculpted a woman’s body from clay. They embraced her, loved her, and in their movements, there was both reverence and desire. This clay figure became a final tribute to life and death, to creation and decay, a reflection of something greater than themselves.
Perhaps the heron had already seen all of this. I was there to capture the moments with my camera, but their meaning was beyond my understanding, and the interpretation is left for someone else.