Letter to My Libido

If you penned a letter to your libido what would you say? Letter to My Libido brings anonymous bold, intimate portraits together with anonymous letters to explore the often misunderstood, deeply complex world of female desire.

Letter to My Libido

Female sexuality is frequently represented through idealised imagery, commercial expectations or clinical explanations. Less visible are the diverse ways women experience desire through relationships, motherhood, ageing, changing bodies, stress, loss and rediscovery.

Letter to My Libido is a photographic and literary art project by multi-award-winning photographer Jessie Casson, exploring the many ways women experience desire, intimacy, and pleasure. Through collaborative photography and anonymous letters, the project creates an unconventional portrait of female desire, culminating in a public exhibition.

With 25 years of experience and an impressive collection of international photography awards, including National Geographic's Portrait Photographer of the Year in 2023 and New Zealand Geographic's Portrait of the Year in 2026, Casson brings a distinctive approach to capturing human experiences. Her work explores identity, challenges stereotypes and finds beauty and humour in unexpected places.

The project began when Casson wrote a letter to her own libido. Now, women across New Zealand are invited to do the same, sharing experiences that are often kept private. Through workshops combining letter-writing and photography, participants explore their relationship with desire in a space free from expectations or prescribed outcomes. Letters can also be submitted anonymously online.

The letters gathered so far range from hilarious and irreverent to deeply vulnerable. Some women write to a libido they desperately miss; others express frustration, affection, indifference or liberation. Many hold opposing emotions at once.

Photography takes these stories beyond the written word. Working collaboratively with participants, Casson creates non-explicit images using bodies, gesture, movement, objects, landscape and humour. Some photographs respond to individual letters; others explore broader themes emerging from conversations and experiences gathered throughout the project.

Anonymity is central to the artistic language: the women are visually hidden, yet their words and images may reveal something deeply intimate. Faces and identifying details are concealed, allowing participants to share something personal while remaining anonymous. This contrast between what is hidden and what is revealed is part of what gives the photographs their power.

For the women involved, the creative process offers an opportunity for self-expression, personal discovery and connection, with the potential to nurture wellbeing and acceptance. The collaborative photographic experience also allows participants to explore how they see themselves and how they wish to be represented.

The project comes at a time when female pleasure and sexuality are increasingly part of public conversation, yet expectations around women's bodies and desire remain deeply ingrained. Greater openness doesn't necessarily mean women feel free to speak honestly about experiences that don't fit familiar narratives of sexuality, relationships or ageing.

Together, the photographs and letters form a collective portrait of female desire in New Zealand: intimate, funny, contradictory, tender and unapologetically human. The resulting exhibition invites audiences to encounter others' private experiences and consider their own assumptions about female desire.

Grant funding would support additional workshops and photographic collaborations.

Letter to My Libido does not seek to define what female desire should look like. Instead, it gives women the opportunity to represent these experiences on their own terms.