Her body is naked yet not vulnerable as she sits on the rock. Around Simone the clouds are gathering, the wind makes the reeds tremble as she leans back with closed eyes. Her hands rest across her chest, as if drawing strength from the warmth of her own body.
”Everyone has a hole in themselves, like a black hole. When you hate yourself, the black hole is huge… Once you love yourself more and heal, the hole grows smaller and smaller.”
When she says this, I understand that her nakedness is not only about skin. It is a stripped state of vulnerability and honesty. She wears no masks, and that is why her presence feels so strong.
Later she lies stretched out, water running over her skin and her hair spread like a river around her head. Her arms are open, as if she is surrendering. I think of the word surrender—to no longer resist, but to let oneself be carried.
”Falling in love… it’s not that the other person makes you feel love. The other person is reflecting something. And it opens up your heart so you feel love—but actually, it’s just the love you long for in yourself.”
When she describes this it feels almost self-evident, yet at the same time challenging. How often have I myself believed it was the other who awakened love in me? Here, in her language and in her body, it becomes clear: the love we think we receive from others is a mirror.
Simone tells me how she once lost herself in relationships. How she longed for validation, for someone to say, “you are beautiful, you are loved.” Today she doesn’t need it in the same way. ”I love myself so much now that I don’t lose myself in a connection anymore,” she says, and I hear both relief and pride in her voice.
When I look at the images of her—her body against stone, water, sky—it becomes clear that they are not about display. They are more of a ritual, an expression. A woman creating a sacred space for herself, where nature becomes the mirror of her rediscovered wholeness.
Self-love is not shutting the world out. It is daring to be so at home in yourself that your encounter with the world is free of demands. Simone shows this not only with her words, but with her entire being: to be naked, present, and yet completely whole.
