HIEROPHANT is, in a sense, a second go at a character I had created for a self-portrait around 1989, and incorporated into the central panel of a triptych collage. On that occasion I had used a fake-bald-cap to simulate baldness. I hadn't been entirely satisfied with the results; it wrinkled in places and only looked convincing if I held it taut with my hand, which limited the poses I could assume. This, in addition the innate allure of shaving my head, was part of the inspiration for my desire to go completely bald for this photo series.
Another driving factor in manifesting the Hierophant was my desire to mark my turning 40 through this series of portraits. Part of what I wanted to do was to project myself into the future, to age myself. To this end, I bought a makeup kit with instructions on doing age makeup. The results don't show up all that strongly in the photos, and as my significant other aptly pointed out, I neglected to age my hands. But the long process of applying the makeup was a kind of meditation on aging.
I love the long, full, gray beard with the bald head. It made me feel wise and powerful and licentious. That, I think, is the essence of this character, who I think of as a high priest in some arcane ancient cult. He is a man with societal authority and wizardly powers derived more from intelligence and skilled brokering than from spiritual connectedness. He can do magic, though. With horns all over, he also has sexual power. I think of the shots of him with the flower garland on his head, "Hierophant, Naked at the Bacchanal," show him in a more humorous guise, drunken and orgiastic.
The Hierophant represents a projection of my sexual fantasies as a figure who'd be the object of some my desires: bearded, older, supremely authoritative, mysterious, magical, and festooned with fetishistic implements. He is less a manifestation of how I view myself sexually, though one of the key things I am discovering through these portraits is the thin line between self and object: It excites me to be him as it would excite me to have him. I suppose there's some narcissism operating here, though a figure like the Hierophant is so different from how I imagine myself to be. I wonder if this principle is the basis of heterosexual transvestitism, men who have the fantasy of dressing as a woman and picking up a femme at a lesbian bar.
My Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines hierophant as "a priest in ancient Greece; specif: the chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries." The word is used to designate the major arcana tarot card sometimes called "the high priest" or "the pope." I just like the word with its connotations of majesty and mystery.
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