My inspiration for the photo was the iconic “To Be or Not To be” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” where he is contemplating death and suicide, holding a skull. My first association is the relation of the cast to a corp or a skull. Something of seeing myself colorless with eyes closed corresponded, to me, with death. The lively and vibrant color is in contrast to the white, toneless background. I decided to reference “Hamlet” in the composition by holding the head close to my own. I wanted to show the feeling of looking inside yourself and to ponder. Also I wanted represent our relationships with death and to death and how it relates to our day to day function. Moreover, the position of the way I hold the cast has a romantic element to it; I wanted to show the “affair” that I feel I tend to have with myself and the narcissistic aspect that there is in being an artist. Falling in love with your creations has a self adoring element to it.
For the headpiece, I want to create two parts, each on every side of my head that transform from covering the whole face into a crown shape object. I am interested in the idea of the swan in our culture; the myth of turning into this beautiful creature from a vulnerable, ugly duckling. By that I would like to use beauty’s intimidating aspect. Like when a swan protects itself when it opens its wings to scare the enemy, we use our appearance as a defence mechanism in the urban environment.
