Mary of The Moment
Photographer Alejandro Madrid collaborates with stylist Franca Chase in an online-exclusive shoot exploring divinity.
BODYSUIT Georgiela Studio; HOODIE and SKIRT Rose Murdoch; NECKLACE stylist’s own
[Many of] the stories we tell have been generated from our understanding of our own existence — our history and our morality. The Bible … is responsible for a lot of the visuals and structures of the [Western] stories we have today. The common thread in this discreetly religious tapestry of existence are these things; the supernatural, the fall from grace, and the restoration of hope (rebirth).
The divine aesthetic of hope is an inherent part of modern storytelling, which we identify through … arc and climax. After an unsolvable problem when all seems lost, the main character rises in the face of extreme adversity.
JACKET and SHOES Evade House; HOT PANTS Fatima Miñara; BELT and TIGHTS stylist’s own
ON DIVINITY, SHOOT NOTES by FRANCA CHASE
Why are the hyper-online-self-narrating youth obsessed with divinity ... what does it mean to produce the self as something holy? In a world in which religious devotion is waning, why is there a fixation on producing images creating angels of the moment?
We are living in times of extreme unreality, where advanced technologies have fuelled hyper-real actualisation of cartoonish silhouettes, blown-out nails, lips and hair, alongside a new wave of anti-tech aesthetics that hark to historical nostalgia.
The cult of the ‘main character’ is one of faux humility, supernatural insight and a drive to look younger and fuller, rooted in immortality.
Depictions of divinity in Renaissance art often included hidden triangles as compositional devices, incorporating the ‘eternal truths’ of mathematics and showing the influence of humanism whilst also outwardly referencing the Holy Trinity in Christianity. The mystery surrounding such symbolism, as well as its affiliation with societies such as the Illuminati and the Freemasons, has spawned conspiracy theories around corruption within the church and state.
JACKET and SKIRT Fatima Miñara; VEIL stylist’s own
Our prestigious history as mankind [is] based on the prestigious art it mimics … As viewers, we are being primed in believing we can be divine while living vicariously through the divine beings.
— Ibid
Shoot production:
The images were manipulated with generative AI image making techniques by Alejandro and Franca to create the environment of divinity.
Producing divinity feels timeless, it feels beautiful, it feels repellent to the endless conversation coming from our screens, it feels like an image everyone can understand.
We used religious paintings as references to generate the image compositions. In order to recreate the environment to a modern one, to reflect the technology that went into the image-making, we crafted a series of prompts.
For example, the above image was shot in a studio, then as part of the post-production I used Photoshop (Beta) to add figures with the prompt "businessman back," generated the background using the term "financial district," and so on.
— Franca Chase
TOP Soma Faitanin; SKIRT Calissa Teiniker; BELT stylist’s own
FULL LOOK Evade House
TOP Reparto Studio; SKIRT Calissa Teiniker
TOP Soma Faitanin; SKIRT Calissa Teiniker; BELT stylist’s own
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We visited Melbourne Art Fair and hosted a collaborative event with dither_ and Collingwood Yards.