I am looking again at Helen Sobiralski ‘Cockaignesque’.
These images feature Vanitas with symbols of death. These are shown as skulls, flowers and burning candles.
The first image is that of a woman sitting staring out at us with hr shoulders and upper arms coated in melting wax from the candles that lay along the top of her shoulders. She is stylised with opulent hair and posed in a regal and exaggerated way. There is one candle that has gone out and in the light we see it trailing up into the darkness. Does this and the shortness of the candles mean she is nearing her death? Like in so many other Baroque paintings the candle acts as the bright light contrasting with the dark surroundings.
In the second image there is a young woman reclining awkwardly on bare branches that hold cattle skulls and bunches of flowers. Both flowers and skulls represent death. However the subject wears a white dress, white is significantly a colour that represents purity and innocence as we often see it depicted in paintings. It could be seen as a bride beginning her life’s journey.
This photographers style has been very deliberately focused on a specific era of art.
How Art inspires Photography 