This is image #9 in the Ophelia series, and while I am saving a lot of my writings on the pieces for my book I was compelled to share a bit about this photo. And to supplement this text, here is a video that I created with model Katie Johnson (filmed by Andrea Pun) about the photo. It is a casual conversation between us going over last minute details and speaking about the meaning behind the image.
It was an interesting piece for me to create because when you look at it, it looks like the most typical Ophelia, the type of portrait you see being recreated again and again. However, the difference lies in the fact that my image is not of Ophelia’s death, it is of her burial. This is not Ophelia drowning herself, or falling into the water and drowning. It is of the people who led her to her death putting her back into the water.
In my series, Ophelia makes her own choices. She chooses not to be bound by society and so she moves into the water, slowly undressing and becoming free, and only in death does she find total freedom. In this image, the people who surrounded her in life have found her dead in the water and they pull her free, only to bundle her up in a nice dress and cover her in jewels, even going to far as to cover her eyes with her hair. I wanted this piece to appear more saturated than the rest, filled with deep, rich colors that would speak of wealth and ornate decoration. The red is interchangeable with blood, as the people who drove her to her death are now showering her in the very thing she was running from.
Flowers are neatly placed upside down to cover any sexuality that might be showing through. Red lipstick is smeared on to make her fit the part of a stately woman. She is bound again by the confines of society, until the final image where she breaks free and ascends.
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