Canadian art has been historically recognized for its representations of the country’s magnificent landscapes. Near the beginning of the twentieth century, the Group of Seven set out to capture Canada’s cultural spirit by painting the transcendent force of the wilderness. Their work reflects the purity, beauty, and mystery of nature—the mythos of the untameable Canadian […]
Category: Storytelling
Children of the Winter Forest: Dara Scully’s Poetic Photography
Note: Contains nudity. Dara Scully is a self-professed “forest-creature, winter child” who instills poetry into her haunting photography. Scully’s works are like gothic fairytales, exploring the human psyche through complex metaphors and esoteric symbols: nude figures lie in strange constellations on the grass, ghost-eyed children peer at the viewer, and dark forests encroach on the […]
Battlefields of Identity: Bryn DC’s Cinematic Explorations of Gender and Power
“Future Fatigue” is a series by photographer Bryn DC that represents the conflict and violence perpetuated by hyper-masculinity and gender inequality. Working alongside feminist artists, writers, and filmmakers, Bryn arranged apocalyptic scenes where the models—dressed up as gang members and renegades—posed in bright, bold defiance to conventional notions of femininity and the male gaze. Makeup […]
Philip Ob Rey Contructs Giant, Humanoid Omens out of VHS Tape
“Humantropy” is a word coined by artist Philip Ob Rey to describe the decline of civilization in an age of renewed chaos. To explore this concept, Ob Rey constructed spectral giants made out of VHS tape and found natural objects (feathers, stones, and seaweed) and photographed them in the frozen, brooding plains of Iceland. Each […]
Mercenaries of the Apocalypse: The Art of Yuri Shwedoff
Moscow-based artist Yuri Shwedoff tells a passionate and imaginative story about survival in the apocalypse. Set in barren wastelands, his melancholic warriors wander alone, armed with medieval weapons and practicing unearthly magic. Children and animals are recurring motifs, used as symbols of sacrifice and loss in the merciless terrain. A dual sense of loneliness and […]
Dragan Ilic Di Vogo’s Symbolic, Hallucinatory Worlds
Note: Contains nudity. Dragan Ilic Di Vogo is a Belgrade-based painter who combines fantasy imagery with surrealism in passionate, dreamlike sequences. His deserts—inhabited by warrior women, stone angels, and floating objects—are reminiscent of the bizarre, symbolic landscapes of Salvador Dalí. With an ancient poeticism, Di Vogo’s works explore the edges of consciousness by dissolving the […]
10 Photographers Who Tell Stories with Controversial Imagery
Photography has long been a window into our social psyches, capturing not only scenes of beauty, but also the hidden underbellies of human experience: decadence, struggle, violence, passion, and despair. The word “controversial” is often used to describe these artists, because they rupture and/or critique the boundaries of normativity, thereby causing discomfort. Below is a […]
Bear Kirkpatrick’s Passionate and Sacred Photography
Note: Contains nudity. Bear Kirkpatrick is a photographer who ventures deep into the wilderness, seeking “hierophanies.” The term derives from the theories of religious historian Mircea Eliade, referring to moments when the sacred realm breaks into the profane (the material, everyday world). Kirkpatrick’s portraits feature nude figures in beautiful, tortured communion with the earth. In […]
Tender Sacrifice: The Photography of Ines Kozic
Ines Kozic is a French photographer who decorates youthful bodies with symbols of sorrow, contemplation, and death. Insects are a recurring motif in her work, representing the transience of life and material processes of decay. Her more recent black and white images explore the feminine form in dark relation with the forest, drawing on fairy […]
Winter’s Requiem: New Works by Laura Makabresku
Stillness and winter’s chill permeate the newest works of Polish photographer Laura Makabresku. Describing her photos as “screenshots from beautiful but cruel fairy tales,” she often includes animals as symbols of transition and death. There is a sense of beauty, romance, and darkness that weave together to enrapture the imagination. From the woman embracing a […]