OPHELIA RITUAL ONE | ART PRINT
SPECIFICATIONS
Photograph 2014
Archival ink on Art paper
Available Unframed and Framed
Framing options:
in solid timber with matt black-lacquer finish
or Raw Tasmanian Oak
Signed and numbered.
Two sizes available:
SMALL Size: 55 x 75cm
LARGE Size: 80 x 110cm
ophelia ritual one | art print
Ophelia Ritual One - is a striking image of the porcelain-like figure of a beautiful women coming into natural light. This immediately reminisces of the "Girl with the pearl earring" by 17 century painter Johannes Vermeer. Magnificent!
Ophelia Ritual One - is part of a award winning series of 5 images created by "Tableau Vivant" - a portuguese artist - and photographer Jonathon Griggs.
The title of this project - Natura Mortua - derives from the Latin "Dead Nature" to describe a work of art that portrays inanimate objects.
Taking the secular painting style but using photography and video as a medium to portray a woman melancholy inspired by Hamlet’s Ophelia, the work captures her figure through five “daily rituals”: dressing (One), grooming (Two), feeding (Three), resting (Four) - in preparation for the grave where she lays to rest (Five).
Emotional, poetic but stunning, the sequence of pictures is very strong and Ophelia One exudes a classic sophistication that will compel anyone's attention when entering a room!
Natura Mortua collection was awarded by "One Eyeland Photography Awards 2014". Bronze medals in two categories - FINE ART and EDITORIAL - Photo Essay / Feature Story.
TABLEAU VIVANT
Natura Mortua is part of a exploratory body of work developed by portuguese Luisa Pinho (Writer and Director) in collaboration with the photographer Jonathon Griggs , around a series of “Tableau Vivants” that experiment with and deconstruct the painting through the performative body and other forms expression, as photography and video.
The project involves installation, video, theatre, dance, public interaction and food.
The first Tableau Vivant was presented in 2009 in Shoreditch (London), as a live performance around Manet’s “Olympia”, regarded as a “femme object” in power as she hosts a dinner.
The second Tableau, “Dissecting Sebastian”, presented at Empire Gallery (London) in 2011, crosses the tragic history of a young Portuguese king from 16th century, Sebastian with the faded beauty of “St Sebastian” the gay patron. The image of the fresh and young king is part of the Portuguese nostalgia of splendorous times of prosperity. With allusions to “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and the faded beauty as the fate of the country.
"Ophelia in Hysteria" the most recent performance, presented in 2012 at the Asylum Chapel (London), regards Millais’ painting and the action is set around a pool where Ophelia is drowned . The performance explores the handling of women’s emotional distress as a biological symptom both through the voice of Ophelia in Shakespear’s "Hamlet" of the 16th century and Heinner Muller’s "The Hamlet Machine" of the 1980’s.
