Category: Storytelling

Feral Femininity in Charlotte Grimm’s Dark Fantasy Photography

Note: Contains nudity. Shadows, forests, and women meld together in the dark fantasy photography of Charlotte Grimm. Based in Leipzig, Saxony, Grimm strives to capture the “magic of frozen moments,” revealing human essence through intimate and moody imagery. In fairy-tale scenes that poetically explore the nuances of feminine energy, we see tameless women curled up […]

Priestess of the Dystopia: The Artwork of Ashley Joncas

Ashley Joncas is a Seattle-based artist and the founder of the multidisciplinary studio énigme. Combining minimalist aesthetics with “deep atmospheric qualities of an ominous color spectrum,” Joncas’ portfolio is a window into a bleak yet beautiful world. Rain-swept horizons and wandering cloaked figures ignite the imagination, producing a somber yet wistful mood. Joncas is an […]

Bigger Than Us: The Lone Cosmonaut by David Schermann

David Schermann is a conceptual photographer based in Vienna. In a recent project titled “Bigger Than Us,” Schermann brought a Russian spacesuit deep into the mountains of Vorarlberg, Austria. Digitally painted red, the sweeping mountains and valleys take on an otherworldly quality, like a deserted mirror of Earth. Both familiar and alien, the setting provides […]

Tragedy and Dreams in Photography by Monia Merlo

Monia Merlo is an Italian photographer whose fine-art portraits of women wordlessly explore emotion. Through specific location choices and the use of natural lighting, she recreates the dreamy atmosphere of pre-Raphaelite paintings. The selection featured here recalls John Everett Millais’ “Ophelia”; women float in ponds, their bodies mingling with vegetation and dark waters to create […]

Women, Witchcraft and the Woods: Photography by Rik Garrett

Note: Contains nudity. Using old camera equipment and the nineteenth-century wet plate collodion process, American photographer Rik Garrett created “Earth Magic,” a series exploring the historical, literary, and personal connections between femininity, nature, and the occult. Alone and in groups, the women pose nude, observing arcane rites and channeling a feral beauty. The collection unveils […]

Lingering Spirits in Christopher McKenney’s Surreal Photography

Christopher McKenney is a Pennsylvania-based photographer who combines surrealism with horror. We featured his work in 2013, but in the years since he has created a fascinating body of new work. The images featured here center around McKenney’s recurring motifs of facelessness and fragmentation, which together symbolize the universalizing power of death; shrouded figures appear […]

Growing Hybrid Mythologies: Update on Caitlin Hackett

Warning: Contains nudity. Hybridity is the law of nature in the visceral, organic artworks of Caitlin Hackett. We featured her in 2012, but she has been busy in the years since, producing visionary paintings and illustrations of humans and animals embroiled in rituals of sacrifice and rebirth. As roots and fungus sprout from dying bodies, […]

Angelarium: The Ancient, Cosmic Divinities of Peter Mohrbacher

Chicago-based illustrator Peter Mohrbacher personifies the forces and guardians of the cosmos. In 2005, upon discovering the thousands of named angels that existed throughout the world’s mythologies, Mohrbacher began his “Angelarium” project. Each of the ethereal creatures in his gallery is portrayed within imaginative alternate dimensions, contextualized by their watery, earthen, and celestial elements. While […]

Passion and Performance in Christopher Pew’s Surreal Oil Paintings

Note: Contains nudity. In an oil series tilted “8,” Canadian artist Christopher Pew paints shadowy, dystopic scenes imbued with symbolism. Inhabiting the images is a cast of ambiguous characters; stark-nude, masked, and garbed in white, they are bound together by a scarlet scarf, signifying a fidelity of blood and sacrifice in the barren lands. Moving […]