Where My Work Sits; Between Reality and Fantasy

In the effort to understand where my work sits within a contemporary practice, I have been looking at the fact that my work sits between both reality and fantasy. It is an exploration of the world in which we live in, and a world in which perhaps I wish we could live in.

First, I will address the elements of reality within my images.

For example, if we take this image from my Asteria shoot, there isn't anything that is distinctly modern that obscure from the message and meaning of the image or series. However, beyond the first look of the image, we can start to unpack the image and time, and the world, in which it was made.

The dress, for example, uses modern materials and designs. The makeup looks modern in terms of application. We also mustn't forget that the medium itself offers the audience a way of looking at the work through modern eyes, for photography is very new relative to art as a whole, even more so digital, colour photography. The lyre, while appropriate for the image, does not look handmade as it would have once been. These are all things that we as humans living today can probably recognise without even thinking about it, because we are so immersed in our way of living that it is the norm - it's our reality. And yet, there are elements which strongly offer a more fantasy, otherworldly approach. To mention the lyre again, for example, an instrument very rarely played today is being used in conjunction with these modern, realistic details. Then, perhaps most obviously, there is the absolute mystery of how and why she is playing music at the edge of a body of water filled with reeds, her toes entering the water. This interaction that the model is having with nature and her instrument is so out of the ordinary to a viewer that it offers that sense of mystery and fantasy the project relies so heavily upon. 

The distance at which it was taken and lack of eye contact allows for the viewer to feel like a comfortable spectator to the model, which therefore allows them to experience and be immersed in such strangeness without feeling confronted. This sense of fantasy is therefore enhanced.

Intertwining reality and fantasy create a balance of recognisable aspects and new, fantastical elements that create that sense of wonder that the painting I based the images on, and the stories in which they were based on also offered.

If we then take this image, we can apply the same twist of reality and fiction within it. The clothing, the materials and the scarf all offer an element of modernity. The sheerness of the dress, the visible layering and the silhouette of the dress are obvious examples. Again, the makeup is applied in a way that seems modern despite me trying to replicate what I saw in Poussin's painting. The pose, perhaps a variation of the contrapposto pose that originated from Greek art, offers a link back to the time in which Selene was thought to be a significant figure.

The lighting, while it is real and captured at sunrise, seems magical and ethereal. There's a slight haze, a warm feeling, and the emptiness of the field that poses the question of why she is there. The sky is also real, but dramatised and made to be slightly out of reality. 

The lighting on the model, however, seems unnatural, due to us being able to see the sun right behind her and yet she is illuminated from the front. This is because she is the Goddess of the moon, and she carries her own light. This then gives the feeling of being fantastical and otherworldly - it's not what we are used to in real life. The light on her, the sky and the grass together create a very powerful and impactful image, it feels ethereal.

Another element of reality that can be seen within this image, is that if you look closely, within the trees you can see the chimneys and roofs of houses in the distance. A reference to modern-day reality within an image feels removed from our own world creates that bridge between the two.

I feel that with using photography as my medium, it's hard to escape the fact that the images will always be seen in a contemporary, realistic context as photography is often seen as a form of true documentation. I, as the model, am real. I use real props. I only enhance in photoshop rather than add things in. It is very much a real image, but one that has the ability to use connotations to give a viewer, and myself as the photographer and sitter, a new outlook on what we know.

Another important note, is that the titles and descriptions of my images will guide a viewer into seeing what I want them to see. I can either aim this to be as otherworldly as possible or, more likely, note that there is that tie between non-fiction and fiction.

This intertwining of reality and fiction, one foot in modernity and the other in the world of Greek mythology and an idealised world, gives the image a sense of escapism, perhaps a different version of our current world where both can exist together.