Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda

“Purity is not an absolute, but a construct, one long used to shape, silence, and sanctify women’s lives”

―Beatriz Perez

Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda (Clothed Body, Naked Soul) is a visual essay exploring how cultural constructions of female purity, morality, and restraint shape women's lives across generations. Rooted in Latin American cultural traditions and symbolism, the project unfolds through four archetypes -La Quinceañera, La Novia, La Doña, La Abuela- considering the body as a site of inheritance, expectation, and resistance.

Working between staged and symbolic imagery, the series examines how garments, gestures, and constructed spaces become carriers of cultural memory. Objects traditionally associated with virtue — veils, lace, religious iconography — are recontextualised to question the narratives they uphold and the roles they assign.

A Victorian bridal dress, found in a charity shop in London, becomes a central element of the work. Its origin and reason for donation remain unknown, yet it bears the weight of a historical ideal of purity and femininity shaped during the Victorian era, when modesty, morality, and social conduct were strictly regulated. Reintroduced within a contemporary context, the dress becomes a vessel through which inherited expectations are both embodied and quietly unsettled. Worn across the four archetypes, the dress becomes a recurring form through which notions of purity are reiterated, displaced, and reimagined.

Through this layering of personal and cultural references, the project reflects on how notions of purity continue to inform the construction of female identity, while opening space for reinterpretation, agency, and resistance.

Photograph of La Quinceañera holding a mirror showing her reflection from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Quinceañera with arms extended like wings in a symbolic gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of La Quinceañera performing the candle ceremony, a coming-of-age tradition, from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Novia framed by flowers in an introspective pose from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Close-up photograph of La Novia holding a rosary with beads in a symbolic gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Novia wearing a radiant halo headpiece referencing sacred iconography in the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Close-up portrait photograph of La Novia wearing a veil with a string of pearls across her face from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of La Novia lifting her veil in a symbolic gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Novia biting an apple in a symbolic gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Doña holding a plantain in a symbolic gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Doña playing with a pearl necklace in a performative gesture from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of La Doña breaking a pearl necklace with pearls falling from her hands in the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Doña with pearls suspended across her face from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Abuela wearing a tropical head scarf and glasses with eyes closed from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of La Abuela seated and wearing a traditional liqui-liqui in a reflective pose from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of La Abuela holding a mobile phone in a domestic interior from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Portrait photograph of La Abuela standing beside a chair from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.
Photograph of an empty dress lying on the floor in a symbolic closing image from the series Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.

Credits

Photography & Art Direction: Beatriz Perez

Styling: Beatriz Perez & Sonia Guzzo

Model: Sonia Guzzo

Make-up Artist: Mily Hernández

Digital Retouching: Carmela Penfold

Cover of DOCU Magazine Special Edition featuring the photographic project Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda by Beatriz Perez.

Publication Features

Cuerpo Vestido, Alma Desnuda - DOCU Magazine Special Edition, January 2026, curated by Tuomas Koskialho.

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