Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a woman's nipples and areolae, typically affixed with adhesive. Though pasties are commonly associated with strippers, burlesque shows and erotic entertainment, they are also, at times, worn as an undergarment, beachwear, or as a form of protest during women's rights events such as Go Topless Day that may avoid potential prosecution under indecency laws.

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Sometime in the year 1996 I received a dial phone communication from Adrian du Plessis who was about to single handedly bring down the Vancouver Stock Exchange by funnelling crucial information to Vancouver Sun’s white crime reporter David Baines. He asked me to show his friend Nina Gouveia  how to take photographs. He had recently given her a Mamiya RB-67 like my own.

I had Gouveia come to my studio and we had a nice chat and we shot some pictures of each other. She was a lovely woman with a most positive approach to life.

To my later chagrin and deep guilt I stopped teaching her any kind of photography and had her, instead face my camera. This she did for many years.

Our collaborative output saw the light of day at the Exposure Gallery until it closed its doors sometime around 2008. Argentine artists Nora Patrich, Juan Manuel Sánchez and I had Gouveia pose for us for sketching and photography many times. Of Gouveia, Sánchez had the ultimate compliment, “Es plástica,” which was all about her ease of flexibility and being able to pose for long periods of time. We did know that she practiced yoga.

Our relationship ceased when Patrich and Sánchez  decided to divorce and they returned to Buenos Aires in separate airplanes. Soon after Gouveia moved to Spain.

I miss her smile, her quirky voice and even the clunker boots she has always chosen to wear. I know that those wonderful moments cannot return and that my thick file of photographs of her are safely stored but to me it is a tragedy that they must remain there in this age of increasing puritanical attitude all aided to our detriment by social media.

But I was lucky to have met her and I believe that my guilt is all gone.