When photographer Kirsty Mitchell lost her Mother to a brain tumour to 2008, her grief drove her to retreat into a world of fantasy, inspired by the childhood stories her Mother read to her. “In the months that followed, real life became a difficult place to deal with,” she says. “And I found myself retreating further into an alternative existence through the portal of my camera. This escapism grew into the concept of creating an unexplained storybook without words, dedicated to her, that would echo the fragments of the fairytales she read to me constantly as a child.” Originally planned as a short project of only a few shoots, Wonderland has grown into a three year narrative, which Mitchell says “has been a roller coaster of emotion, and an enormous amount of effort, but now (finally) Wonderland is in it final stages, with its completion planned for the end of the summer 2012.” The project has brought together Mitchell’s love of fashion and costume, as well as art history and film. Every aspect of the shoots are carried out by Kirsty Mitchell and her make-up artist Elbie Van Eeden. Costumes, props, wigs and sets are designed are created specifically for each shoot and the results are amazing.
I think some of the images can, in fact, be related to the Elizabethan's/New Elizabethan's. For example, in this image the model appears to have very pale skin, and red hair which incorporates curls and plaits, as well as the use of a very elaborate head accessory.
The Queen's Armada: A fantasy queen sails a fleet of the most delicate paper ships.
This image reminds me of a person sitting on a throne, so relates back to royalty, and therefore to Queen Elizabeth. It also features the colour purple which demonstrates wealth, and was very desirable in the Elizabethan era, and this is actually the colour of the hair so it makes the image quite contemporary and modern.
Reference: http://fadedandblurred.com/articles/making-wonderland-kirsty-mitchell/
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