In creating this series, Sleeping Beauty, unique staged photography has been used to portray the complexities and struggles individuals face. The use of props and positioning of the model constructs enigma and ambiguity. The pill in the first image, or the model with her back to the camera in the second image, or the framing of the mirror in the third image. This imagery opens the narrative to you, the viewer, that can be interpreted in several ways due to the influence of age, gender or stage in life. The melancholy and solitude being depicted reinforces the fear that one is thought worthless, through the emptiness of the mise en scene and the dull tones throughout.
Through this digital artefact, I wanted to look at the ideas of allegory and uncertainty within imagery. The ideas stemming from fairytales but through the perception of the uncanny. The idealistic setting, that could be convincing but also imaginary. This emphasises the blur between fiction and reality, as I had explored in my series above, giving the sense of ambiguity of what is real and what is not. Linking back to allegory, this series will allow you to have your own interpretations of the work with the series of images pointing the meaning elsewhere.
As part of this project, I wanted to have a collection of images to show various perspectives of the scene with portrayals of fairytales to look at how they have been saturated into our lives. Those who have grown up with fairytales will take much more from these images than those who have not. It creates the idea of the familiar and unfamiliar, the comfort of a home being distorted to make us feel conscious of the tension and awkwardness. The room appearing bigger than the figure? The figure reaching for an apple? The clock showing midnight? The roses on the table?