Toten-nu

TOTEN-NU is an artifact of seduction and collapse.

Through a polished, fetishistic aesthetic, the work dissects how the body ceases to be a biological entity and becomes a bargaining chip within the marketplace of appearances and social classes. In this process, sensuality becomes distorted: it ceases to be understood as a primitive, healthy, and direct way of relating to the world, and instead comes to be consumed as image, value, and hierarchy.

The beauty of the container—the skin, the pose, the wrapping—functions as a visual trap. It does not appear as an end in itself, but as a mechanism of attraction that places the viewer before the tension between the natural and the calculated, between desire and consumption, between presence and commodity.

The core of the narrative does not lie in the flesh, but in the void left behind after the exchange. It is a scathing critique of the observer’s complicity, who, by consuming the image in a certain way, actively participates in the dehumanization of the subject.

A young man with black hair and a mustache wearing a black shirt and dark pants stands on a stone-paved street, looking at his phone. He carries a pink bag with black polka dots over his shoulder. There is a bicycle leaning against a wall next to him, and other people are gathered nearby, some smiling and chatting. In the background, there are trees, classic European-style buildings, and a traffic light.
A young man with black hair and a mustache wearing a black shirt and dark pants stands on a stone-paved street, looking at his phone. He carries a pink bag with black polka dots over his shoulder. There is a bicycle leaning against a wall next to him, and other people are gathered nearby, some smiling and chatting. In the background, there are trees, classic European-style buildings, and a traffic light.

Miquel Cabello (Alaró, Mallorca).

Miquel Cabello (Alaró, Mallorca).

Photographer and visual artist.

Miquel Cabello is a photographer and visual artist. His work stems from a series of persistent obsessions: innocence, play, a critique of classism—with a particular focus on appearance-based discrimination—and human sensuality. These concepts emerge as a consequence of a life marked by the absence of role models, difficulty in forming emotional bonds, economic hardship, and an awareness of the body as a site of desire, acceptance, and exclusion.

In his work, innocence does not appear as purity, but as a form of fertile ignorance: a state prior to fear, judgment, and the negative overinterpretation of the world.

Play, for its part, functions as a space for emotional experimentation, where the individual experiments with connection, pleasure, and the construction of identity.

In relation to both concepts, the critique of classism and human sensuality introduce a more political dimension: the way in which beauty, the body, and appearance condition social and affective relationships.

From a stage of greater stability and distance, Miquel Cabello revisits these experiences to transform them into images. TOTEN-NU arises from this need to visually represent lost innocence, interrupted youth, the desire to belong, and the silent violence of a society that classifies bodies according to their appearance, origin, and capacity to be desired.Former Customer

Each series in the project consists of 14 statements, which trace an evolution from absolute admiration toward wear and tear, commodification, emptiness, and collapse.

A black and white photo of a person posing nude in front of a mirror, with their body arched and one leg raised, while their face is upside down and resting on the bed.

#0001

Everything is perfect, suspended in a utopian state. The most cherished value throughout the ages. Modified, yet at its core, always the same purpose, the body.

You like it, you observe it, and you desire it.

This series pays homage to those perfections we so long for and admire. It begins with a purpose.

Black and white photo of a nude woman with long, dark, curly hair posing against a plain background.

#0002

From a young age, we learn to value physical beauty. We long to achieve it, and how wonderful it feels when we do. How it changes our lives.

How great it feels to go out and show the world who we are.

Close-up photo of a person's torso and waist, showing their navel and a small tattoo of a bird on the upper chest near the shoulder. The person has light skin and is partially draped with white paper or fabric.
Close-up black and white photo of a person's bare shoulder, neck, and part of the face, with a window in the background.

#0003

Showing who we are and embracing the consequences. A journey that becomes easier, experiences we long to have.

#0004

It has taken us so much hard work to get this far—sacrifices and efforts that have paved the way for us to celebrate our achievements.

You admire it; you’re in awe.

A black and white photograph of a woman lying on a couch with her eyes closed, resting her head on her arm. Her legs are bent at the knees and crossed, with her feet in the air. Her other hand is resting on the couch. The background shows a textured wall with a scalloped border and a corner of a piece of furniture.

#0005

Exhausted by so much admiration, the mind rests whenever it can and catches its breath. Wondering where all this time has gone.

A black and white photograph of a smooth, curved surface with a black background, resembling a abstract or minimalist shape.

#0006

Beauty begins to demand something in return. The body ceases to rest in itself. A promise of access, of desire, of belonging.

A brown horse walking in a grassy area at night with trees in the background.

#0007

Presence requires confirmation; it requires reflection; it requires an audience.

The intimate shifts to the surface. What once belonged to the body now belongs to the gaze of others.

Back view of a nude woman standing against a plain background.

#0008

The body learns to sell itself, to offer itself as a gateway, as a symbol.

The skin becomes a wrapper.

Beauty becomes a selling point.

Desire is organized, curated, and presented.

A woman with dark hair, wearing a white top, is standing with her back to the camera.

#0009

Admiration takes on a new form. What fails to inspire attraction loses its value.

A silent system where bodies disappear.

A black and white photograph of a nude woman with dark hair and bangs, standing against a plain light background.

#0010

Seduction, repeated too many times, loses its innocence.

There is something broken about continuing to offer what no longer belongs to us.

The body remains present, but the person begins to withdraw.

Close-up of weathered, textured wood surface with intricate grain patterns and darkened areas.

#0011

Something remains suspended. The silence that arises when the viewer reflects.

What has been projected matters.

The void it leaves behind matters.

A person standing on the floor and looking out a window, viewed from below in black and white.

#0012

Pleasure returns, as a mechanism, seeking the peak, the reward, the release.

Black and white art sculpture of a headless, armless human figure with bent limbs, sitting on the ground with hands and feet touching the floor.

#0013

It no longer reflects its natural form, distorted by all the expectations placed upon it.

It stretches, it corrects itself, it exaggerates.

A blurry black and white photo of a person with long hair and sunglasses, standing indoors in front of a wall with two small objects or decorations.

#0014

The collapse, when the promise is broken.

When beauty ceases to make sense.

The body falls like a sold-out commodity.

Only emptiness remains after consumption.