Rooted Light

There’s a certain historical script that always shows up when a nude woman enters the frame: softness, silence, consumption. This story isn’t here to reenact that. In this series, a staged set with red walls, deep blue corners, floral patterns pulled from Mexican domestic interiors, becomes something more intimate than “a backdrop.” It’s a container. A private room where a real person can exist without the usual choreography.Cecilia isn’t posed into myth or polished into a symbol. She’s allowed to be still. To take up space. To look back. The camera pays attention to the unglamorous magic: posture, breath, a pause, the micro-shift that turns a body from object to presence. And as photographer Kiu Hayee reveals, the gaze isn’t one-way: this is also a self-portrait, in the form of witness. The nude, re-centered: not for consumption, but for communion with the self, first.

PHOTOGRAPHY KIU KAYEE @kiukayee
STYLIST AMANDA MARIKO @mandymariko @bareps
HAIR DREW MARTIN @drewmartinhair
MAKEUP ANNA KATO @makeup_annakato
SET DESIGN RENNA PILAR @rennapilar
MODEL CECILIA ALVAREZ BLACKWELL @bebiliya
MAKEUP ASSISTANT CRISTINA MARTINEZ @xtinamartist

This series was created around a portrait of Cecilia, shot in a staged environment built with red, blue, and floral patterns inspired by Mexican interiors. I wanted the space to feel intimate but also intentional — like a set where something real could still happen. 

The inspiration began with classical Renaissance paintings of nude women — the posture, the softness, the light — but I didn’t want to recreate those works. I wanted to respond to them. I wasn’t interested in using the female body as just a visual figure. What mattered to me was capturing a real sense of presence — of being — without the need to perform.

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During the shoot, I gave Cecilia space to be still, to be herself. There wasn’t a script, just quiet direction, intuition, and trust. I paid attention to her posture, her breath, her gaze. The images came out of those small moments — a shift in light, a pause, an unexpected gesture.






  • This series also became personal. While working, I was thinking a lot about confidence — about what it means to feel comfortable in your own skin. I realized I was looking at parts of myself through the camera too. Photographing Cecilia allowed me to reflect on my own identity, how I see women, and how I see myself.

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It’s a simple process, really — observing, feeling, adjusting. Letting go of the need to control everything, and focusing instead on honesty, energy, and the atmosphere between photographer and subject. This work is about presence — both hers and mine.

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@KIUKAYEE