Dark Planets

“I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.”

-HP Lovecraft: from his poem “Nemesis”

My goal for my final series Black Planets was to create an aesthetic and conceptual opposite to the work I have been doing this quarter. My series aims to take the idea of fantasy, whimsy, and human imagination to the dark side. I used a variety of staging techniques, location scouting, prop fabrication, and costume creation to deliver the viewer to a world of horror and mystery. In some cases you may come face to face with the apparition from your nightmares, and in others, you may only be left with the suggestion of their presence; leaving the viewer not wanting to look behind their own shoulder. With these theatrical spectacles, I wanted to use my own imagination as well as that of the viewer to personify fear through the photographic lens. There is both an element of violence and of curiosity in the presentation of human fear, and I think there is something to be said about an image that is meant to scare the viewer, but in its mystery, draws them in. Personally speaking, I have always had a strong aversion to anything that could fall into the horror genre, citing that I have enough horror within the walls of my own mind. But for this series I decided to face those fears head on and dive into the aesthetics of the magically evil, inspired by some classic subjects of the contemporary horror genre.