During Art Basel in Miami Beach, Ventiko, the Brooklyn-based artist, photographer, and host of the performance art series Performance Anxiety, organized a shoot. Titled “On Beauty,” it featured three naked models, including an uncut transwoman and high end sex doll—and Ventiko herself .

According to Ventiko, there was a police patrol station 50 feet away from the performance, which was carried out in broad daylight in one of Miami’s public parks. Despite the explicit nature of the piece, the cops did not try to stop the performance, but instead interacted with the models. “Several [policemen] came up to inquire and when we went to work—removing all our clothing (which is illegal in Florida)—they [the police] simply observed as we engaged with the public in our state of complete undress both on and off set while simultaneously ensuring our safety,” the artist told artnet News in a phone call.

Set against a jungle-like backdrop in a metal trailer, the nude models were perched with live peacocks against their bosoms, while a sex doll was positioned behind them. Among them were masks of the artist’s own face, “a jab,” she said, “at my own self-portraiture and the masturbatory pleasure of both the selfie and contemporary art.”

Go to artnet News’s Art Basel in Miami page for past coverage, including:

“Art Basel in Miami Beach in Pictures, From Miley Cyrus to Baz Luhrmann”

“Have Art Fairs Destroyed Art? Zombie Abstraction and Dumb Painting Ruled in Miami”

“Overheard at the VIP Preview of Art Basel in Miami Beach”

“Hidden Gems of Miami’s Satellite Art Fairs”

“Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014 is a Rip-Roaring Success”

“Art Basel in Miami Beach: The Definitive Sales Report”