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UNSEEN title card: the word UNSEEN above a single lit candle in darkness

Photography · Concept

UNSEEN

A photography album of the psyche

A black-and-white series rooted in surrealism: hands that cover and grip, painted handprints, doubled heads and a shadow that smiles back. Studio portraits and composites, finished as a printed album.

Year
2020
Format
Photo album
Role
Concept, fashion styling, photography
01

Research

Research page: About surrealism and what inspired the series Research page: Surreal photography and its elements Research page: scenes from Un Chien Andalou Moodboard collage with a lizard, snake, owl, cockroaches and paint swatches
Reference board of surreal black-and-white portraits
02

The album

Portrait with thumbs pressed over closed eyes The same pose, turned upside down Portrait with a black painted handprint over the mouth and hands at the collarbone Close-up of hands gripping a paint-smeared neck Interlaced hands over the eyes above a mouth of crooked teeth The same image, rotated
A seated woman holding her own head in her hand
Portrait with black eyes and a lizard hanging from the lips A single black eye showing through dark hair Composite: a figure crouched inside an open mouth, eyes hidden by a black bar Rotated view of a woman face to face with the head she holds A woman facing her shadow on the wall, which has a drawn grin Smiling face with a black bar over the eyes and a lizard on the cheek
A screaming double looms over a calm woman with closed eyes
Double exposure: one face laughing, the other screaming 3D-rendered head with camera lenses fused into the skull Close-up of teeth biting down on a snakeskin
A grimacing mouth tearing a snakeskin held in both fists
Composite: a half moon replaces the eyes as hands grip the throat Composite: a burning candle in place of the head, over a white slip dress Composite: an upside-down face and arms that end in feet A woman in black floating, reaching to the right The mirrored pose, reaching to the left A figure in a white dress falling upside down through darkness A figure in a white dress lying in a void of black Portrait with black eyes and cockroaches crawling from the mouth Close crop of the cockroach portrait at the collarbone
A raised leg in a sandal, barely lit in the dark
Poster: a leg pushed open in the dark, captioned Forced it open? and titled Rape
The series also confronts sexual violence.
03

The book

Mockup of the UNSEEN album: a black hardcover with the title and a candle Open spread of the album: the two-heads image beside the snakeskin bite

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