Note: Contains violence and sexual references. Mariel Clayton takes humorous, erotic, and often disturbing photographs of dolls. Inspired by an encounter in a Tokyo toy shop, her images are staged within miniature rooms, inserting a peculiar mix of bawdiness and ultra-violence into seemingly innocent domestic scenes. The dolls’ fixed smiles and outrageous acts poke fun […]
Category: Storytelling
The Shrouded Maidens of Helen Warner’s Surreal Portraiture
Helen Warner is a Belfast-based photographer who composes ghostly and surreal images. She describes her work as a type of “frozen theater,” where arcane events occur in unknown landscapes. Featured here is a collection of her headshots, which pair feminine features with symbols of mourning and death: flowers, shrouds, and snow adorn the faces of […]
Black Blood: The Gothic Glamor of Chris Desabota’s Photography
Note: Contains images that may be considered graphic and disturbing to some readers. Chris Desabota is a Florida-based photographer who creates cinematic images that scrape high fashion raw with the edges of human emotion. One of the series featured here is “Hysteria,” shot in collaboration with the models Gianna Serino and Sami Mitchell. Dressed in […]
10 Conceptual Photographers Who Compose Visions of Surreal Darkness
The exploration of ideas and human experience is at the heart of conceptual photography. Despite its lengthy history—arising from the mind-centered works of artists such as Marcel Duchamp—conceptual art and photography have never been defined as official movements, but rather as creative methodologies. However, many young artists today are using photography in combination with Photoshop […]