From top left: Obsession, Revenge
Bottom left: Nightmares, Possession
Influenced by the surrealism of Salvador Dali, the detailed emotion of Bernini and the female passion common to the work of Edvard Munch, this is an acrylic/pastel project that examines some select universal horror themes. Possession is inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Revenge is based on The Crow, Nightmares (Nightmare on Elm Street, It) and Possession (The Exorcist).
The world began without man, and it will end without him.
- Claude Levi-Strauss
The world dies over and over again, but the skeleton always gets up and walks.
-Henry Miller
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
- T.S. Eliot
Nikon D-7000. 18-55mm lens. ISO 400; f/10; 1/400. Toronto, Canada. October 2011.
13 photographs I submitted as the final assignment for my digital photography class. I shot hundreds of photographs over the past month, and yet not surprisingly the selected shots really define me, making them a perfect posting for this blog.
“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon
A MOBILE POSSESSED
MY PLANETS MISALIGNED
LAVA SPILLING OVER
BOILING, BURSTING THROUGH MY MIND.
THE POISON WAS SET
I’VE BEEN SHAKEN AND STIRRED
EYELIDS TAPED OPEN
COMPARES WHAT YOU YEARN.
DISENTANGLE FROM THIS DANCE
OF CONFUSING DRAMADY
MISTEPS AND RELAPSE
SUFFOCATING ME.
LAVA HARDENS AROUND MY HEART
AND WHAT BREWS WITHIN
PULSING, GLOWING CRACKS
EXHALE BLACK SMOKE SIN.
The beautiful state
of being alone
luminous underneath
my singular salvation.
Sometimes I invite you to
this mystery dinner
our time together
brings balance to my palate
of all I want to taste.
But Sometimes you betray me.
I’m left starving, salivating.
This monster I have created,
my Frankenstein Friend,
whom I love
but when pieced together
disturbs me
and I’m alienated
back to my undiscovered planet
and I wonder
why I ever left to begin with.
Without warning
visions take over
vivid and real.
The worst of what could happen
as I try to save myself,
protect myself
from the pain to come.
Self preservation is
accepting insanity as my only form of
humanity.
I’m not waiting for any angels to appear.
I’ve seen their wings dipped in blood.
Limbs torn off and sold for gold.
Throats crushed. Their final notes join the choir
of Eternal Screams.
As the madness Grows
there lies a quiet peace.
Knowing that when it all crashes down.
We will heal.
But nothing will be the same.
Medium: acrylic, stickers, magazines, glitter, gel, feathers, sheer ribbon, oil pastel
Theme/Inspiration: the heroine in a slasher film vs. the heroine that walks down the runway; Final Destination, corsets, angels
