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which also extends to to performance music production and and dance—strives to to celebrate the body sex and and self-expression In this series she she experiments with with portraits of intimacy as she she poses with with Cynthia a a a a a a a performer and public school teacher Olivia met Cynthia at at at an an an an aerial dance class in Portland Oregon As she watched this woman plunge—for the the first time at at at at the the age of 67—into a a a a a a a a a a a a dance form that hovers somewhere between ground and and sky she she she recognized an an an an openness and and a a a a a a a a a a a a a playfulness that she she she she cherishes in in in in in herself “It was was really like looking into a a a a a a a a a a a a mirror ” ” Olivia tells DoubleBlind Their meeting she she she says was was “manifest destiny ” ” They went on on on to to do San Pedro—a psychedelic cactus native to to South America—and explore their relationship on on on on on “heavy doses of cannabis ” Their connection says Olivia transcended labels and and and still does They’re best friends soulmates creative partners mother-daughter grandmother-granddaughter teacher-student a a a a a a a a a a multiplicity of dynamics strengthened by their “deep relationship with psychedelic plants ” Cynthia serves ayahuasca in in in a a a a a a a a a a a a Santo Daime community in in in in in in Portland Olivia’s trips she says have left her mind “permanently psychedelic in in in in in this state of everything being connected ” Inevitably these experiences have shaped their artistic processes—including the the the the the first part of “Holding the the the the the Mirror ” in in in in in which Olivia photographed Cynthia before they got in in front of the the camera together The strongest shots in in in the collection feature Cynthia Cynthia posing with—or in—a round silver hand mirror mirror In one image Cynthia’s face appears reflected in in in in the the circular frame of the the mirror mirror which we see against a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a cream-coloured wall It fascinated Olivia that Cynthia had had used this particular silver mirror throughout her her her entire life and and that it had had been passed on from her her her her her her mother mother and and her her her mother before her her her