In "Island Desire VII," José Sierra delves into the melancholy of the male body and the deconstruction of the Caribbean landscape. The work presents a performative scene where nudity functions as a state of absolute vulnerability and dispossession. By placing the man in a tub of milky liquid while receiving a constant flow of water from the mouth of a tarpon, the artist generates a powerful metaphor about vital dependence, the isolation of the island, and purification rituals. The rigidity of the fish's death contrasts with the laxity of the human body, suspending the scene at an intermediate point between dream, survival, and myth.
 
The artist was fascinated by certain images he had a connection with since childhood, transforming them into iconography, such as the image of a fisherman carrying a codfish of almost the same size on his back. This composition is complemented by the use of a dairy remedy, the traditional multivitamin "Scott's Emulsion." These iconic elements, which he grew up with in the 1990s, still exist and are a source of resonance, suggesting the artist thanks to the place where he conceived this series. "Insular Desire" is a reminiscence of his past. Sierra's current work continues to be based on his self-representation, from which he approaches a homoerotic perspective by configuring staged environments with objects in which he integrates himself as a "subject of aesthetic creation" 
 
Fisherman labor iconography transformed into queer Caribbean self-representation, reimagined through homoerotic lens and insular identity. Artistic nude photography from Deseo Insular. Available at The Art Design Project, Miami Beach.