Yesterday I had a dental appointment. My dentist’s studio is in a very pretty part of Rome with very pretty bourgeois aesthetics.

In Ancient Rome, niches were popular as they provided a display space for statues and urns. Until minimalist low budget buildings became the norm, niches were an architectural habit. That’s why I’d never given much attention to the niche outside my dentist’s studio. But yesterday that changed.

The niche displayed a statue of Venus holding a pitcher in one hand and something that, from a distance, looked like a cell phone (which of course it wasn’t).

In Rome, we have all kinds of Venuses: La Venere Capitolina, Paulina Bonaparte as Venus Victrix + Venus Callipyge + Esquiline Venus Pudica.

My dentist’s Venus holds a pitcher that represents water, a vital element for life and thus a symbol of fertility. Venus, because of her birth, has a close relationship with water. Her dad, Uranus, ruler of the cosmos, was overthrown by his son, Saturn. To emphasize his victory, Saturn threw his father’s genitals into the sea. The penis swam around in the sea foam and, voilà, Venus was born.

Current events are existentially crushing and the feeling of doom is omnipresent. It’s easy to go into a depressive loop. But the other day internet offered this advice: “The amount of good things in your life depends on your ability to notice them.”

For unfortunate reasons, I’d missed my last dental appointment and was sure my dentist and his assistant were going to reprimand me. Instead, they embraced me, told me they were happy to see me, and asked how I’d been. They made me feel special.

When I left the studio, I was still high on the good vibes. And for the first time in the 15 years I’ve been going to my dentist, I stopped and looked at Venus and decided to photograph her to remember the moment.

Appropriations for AI will be jinxed.

+ Unfortunatley, I don’t know the author of the above cited quote