With this series of paintings Zagato takes the opportunity to explore the bond – and never was a word more appropriate – between love and slavery. In many ways, he explains, we can be lover slaves, slaves to love, and slaves with our love.

Zagato goes further: ‘To be a slave of love is an erotic and romantic fantasy, giving yourself with total dedication to another person. Being a slave of love means that nothing else matters except that one person and our relationship with them, that irresistible attraction. The nakedness of the slaves in these artworks is certainly erotic, but it also represents their intimacy, physically and emotionally. The strength of their physical passion is balanced by the vulnerability of their being exposed; it is perhaps precisely this contrast that is the power of their message – we are all strong and fragile at the same time.’