UK photographer Kirsty Mitchell (previously here) created this phenomenal portrait of an interpretation of a Greek goddess called 'Gaia, The Birth Of An End' that marks the beginning of the final chapter in her Wonderland project.
Gaia wears a grand golden handmade headdress that took her over two and-a-half months to finish.
"I was heavily influenced by Inca gods, and my trip to Tibet in 2012, during which I had specifically collected traditional bells and tribal necklaces. I began by building up an entire new lower level to the piece, that would help surround the face and balance the enormous proportions of the top section."
"The headdress was entirely hand painted, dyed and beaded by myself and weighs so much, that it had to be wired to a wooden beam in my studio to take the weight off the model's head."
The base is made from solid plaster with metal mesh embedded into it for extra strength.
The photographer worked with make-up artist is Elbie Van Eeden to transform model Marianna Toka into the goddess.
"Wonderland is in its final phase. It has been running for four and a half years and is entirely self funded. The project's purpose is to create a extraordinary storybook without words."
"The characters are all my own creation; the costumes props and sets. I construct them like mini film sets in the woodlands around my home. Everything is real and real scale, and can take months to make."
"The characters are not based on anything that already exists - they are the result of my faded memories of the stories my mother read to me as a child, the original book illustrations, poems, paintings mixed up with dreams. I wanted to create pictures that people will project their own ideas on to, and lose themselves in."
"The project currently has 69 pictures in the collection, with another 10 coming. All the new pictures, the last 10, have been made and shot over the last 9 months, and we are now retuning with them, as well as the films. Each picture has a five-minute behind the scenes film made by FX Media. But we are also working on a full-length documentary about the whole series which will be released online at the very close of the series. I hope to complete everything by March next year."
"I named this first portrait Gaia, The Birth of An End, as it about the last seen character Gaia's transition from a mortal to her true goddess form. I named her after the Greek equivalent of our Mother Earth, and this picture represents her incarnation, (birth) surrounded by an explosion of vibrating, shimmering energy. Her character affects everything. As she changes so to will the landscape, creating a butterfly effect that sets in motion the end of the story."
"It was heavily influenced by how I see the human spirit; after losing my mother people often ask me what I imagine comes afterwards, and my only answer is my belief in an endless energy, the circle I feel we are all a part of. My mother is with me always, she is the earth, the rain, the wind in my hair was I walk to work. The body may cease, but I feel the vibrations of people continue, like ripples from a stone cast in a lake, and it was this power of spirit that I have tried to express within the picture."
Check her website: www.kirstymitchellphotography.com/
All images are © Copyright of Kirsty Mitchell
Source: dailymail
Gaia wears a grand golden handmade headdress that took her over two and-a-half months to finish.
"I was heavily influenced by Inca gods, and my trip to Tibet in 2012, during which I had specifically collected traditional bells and tribal necklaces. I began by building up an entire new lower level to the piece, that would help surround the face and balance the enormous proportions of the top section."
"The headdress was entirely hand painted, dyed and beaded by myself and weighs so much, that it had to be wired to a wooden beam in my studio to take the weight off the model's head."
The base is made from solid plaster with metal mesh embedded into it for extra strength.
The photographer worked with make-up artist is Elbie Van Eeden to transform model Marianna Toka into the goddess.
"Wonderland is in its final phase. It has been running for four and a half years and is entirely self funded. The project's purpose is to create a extraordinary storybook without words."
"The characters are all my own creation; the costumes props and sets. I construct them like mini film sets in the woodlands around my home. Everything is real and real scale, and can take months to make."
"The characters are not based on anything that already exists - they are the result of my faded memories of the stories my mother read to me as a child, the original book illustrations, poems, paintings mixed up with dreams. I wanted to create pictures that people will project their own ideas on to, and lose themselves in."
"The project currently has 69 pictures in the collection, with another 10 coming. All the new pictures, the last 10, have been made and shot over the last 9 months, and we are now retuning with them, as well as the films. Each picture has a five-minute behind the scenes film made by FX Media. But we are also working on a full-length documentary about the whole series which will be released online at the very close of the series. I hope to complete everything by March next year."
"I named this first portrait Gaia, The Birth of An End, as it about the last seen character Gaia's transition from a mortal to her true goddess form. I named her after the Greek equivalent of our Mother Earth, and this picture represents her incarnation, (birth) surrounded by an explosion of vibrating, shimmering energy. Her character affects everything. As she changes so to will the landscape, creating a butterfly effect that sets in motion the end of the story."
"It was heavily influenced by how I see the human spirit; after losing my mother people often ask me what I imagine comes afterwards, and my only answer is my belief in an endless energy, the circle I feel we are all a part of. My mother is with me always, she is the earth, the rain, the wind in my hair was I walk to work. The body may cease, but I feel the vibrations of people continue, like ripples from a stone cast in a lake, and it was this power of spirit that I have tried to express within the picture."
Check her website: www.kirstymitchellphotography.com/
All images are © Copyright of Kirsty Mitchell
Source: dailymail
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