Lyvia screamed in pain as the executioner hit the nail with all his might. The nail went into her hand quickly, reaching the hole underneat and going into the wood smoothly. Lyvia didn't stop shaking even as the soldiers held her firm. When the her hand was fixed on the cross bar, the executioner moved to nail her other hand. Between him and the soldier they pulled her arm until the hand was over the hole in the oppiste extreme of the crossbar, but the crossbar was longer than her arms so her shoulders were dislocated.

Lyvia let out an agonizing moan as the nail went into her hand, it only took a few blows for the nail to go through. Thus nailed she was lifted and turn over so her body was facing the ground. The nails were protruding from the wood so with a few blows they were bent to the sides.

After nailing her, the soldiers dragged her a few steps to where a rope hanged from a long bar across two posts. They tied the rope to the center of the crossbar and raised Lyvia until she was hanging a few feet off the dirt ground.

The executioner was joined by another man who was holding a whip, also with lead tips. One man was in front of the naked woman, the other one was behind her. A soldier took one of her ankles and tied it to the post on her right while another tied her left ankle to the post on her left.

Lyvia hanged with her hands nailed to the crossbar and her legs open and tied to the posts. The flogging began, each was othered to give her 50 lashes.

Lyvia shook at every blow of the lead tipped whips, screaming in pain as each lash tore pieces of skin and left wounds on her back and torso.

The men hit her mostly above her waist, striking her back, her breasts, her arms, her belly, her ass.

The crowds were uneasy, they felt it was too much for the poor woman. Some voiced their protests but were not heard.

Lyvia fainted twice before the lashing was over, each time she was brought back with the hot red pockers. When they men finally reached the 50th lash, her ankles were untied and she was lowered to the ground.

The executioner went to fetch another crossbar, the hammer and the nails.

After setting up the camera in a close up of her hand, I went back to continue the nailing. This time the action was concentrating on her hand, her fingers opening and closing as I hit the nail, driving it into her hands.

This was a moment I've been wishing to experience for a very long time. Perhaps always.

When I first arrived in NY and began studying film, I toyed with the idea of making some erotic movies, never thinking that I would actually do them. It all seemed so strange to me at the time. I was never exposed to the kind of open sexuality that I encountered in New York in 1972.

It wasn't until 20 years later when I starting playing with a camera. But I have to admit that I was looking for ways of inserting this kind of image into my work, which I did in the docudrama about Haiti by having a escene where a couple of slaves are crucified in the middle of a sugar cane field. A young man and a young woman, both naked and crucified back to back on the same cross.