Between Agony and Ecstasy: Portraits of People Getting a Massage

A month or so ago, a friend treated me to a spa day. I quite deserved to be treated: she had asked me to be godmother of her Greek baby, which meant I had to ritually renounce Satan by spitting at the doorstep of a Greek Orthodox church and watch a priest dunk her baby in water. As I lay on the massage table, determined to leave all memories of the christening behind me, I must have fallen asleep. I startled awake when the therapist let out a tiny scream – apparently in my semi-hazed state, I’d managed to drool a little on her bare feet.

Which got me thinking that my face must have looked incredibly stupid in the moment – pressed on an uncomfortable headrest, caught somewhere between agony and ecstasy. To make myself feel better and less alone, I asked my friend photographer Chris Bethell to photograph a few people as they got a massage. Apparently, he soundtracked the whole experience to Enya. Here’s the result of that effort.

@elektrakotsoni

See more of Chris’ work here and here

Massages courtesy of Joanna Groszek at MobileClinica

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