Confessions

Essay 625 • Aug 23rd 2026

Confessions is an exploration of the body in a state of surrender—between performance and instinct, control and abandon, the self we present and the selves that emerge when we stop trying to contain.

In color, femininity becomes something to revel in. Vivid, playful, sensual, unapologetic. The body performs, exaggerates, seduces. It knows it is being seen and takes pleasure in it.

In black and white, we see that performance begin to dissolve. The body slips beyond its own outline, caught in the blur of movement. What is left is less a figure than a feeling. A body becoming, disappearing, returning.

Together, the images hold both sides of freedom: the pleasure of inhabiting a persona and the release of losing it. Of being strong, flirtatious, unruly, vulnerable while allowing each self to surface without asking which one is true.




















 

Olivia Burgess is a French-American photographer, director, and movement artist based between London and New York. An internationally acclaimed model and dancer, her years in front of the camera have shaped a deeply intuitive visual language – one rooted in embodiment, sensitivity and transformation. Guided by the moving body, her work explores the thresholds between presence and performance, stillness and motion.
Website

Photo/concept:
Olivia Burgess

Talent:
Matty Maria
Polina Glen
Idania Quezada

Styling:
Bara Cashmere