Woman, 36, who lost mother to brain cancer creates breathtaking fantasy land photo series in her memory
- Kirsty Mitchell’s Wonderland series has been three years in the making
- All costumes, wigs and sets were constructed on a shoestring budget
- Some images took up to five months to create
- She would often wait an entire year to find the perfect natural setting for her shots
Kirsty Mitchell’s late mother Maureen was an English teacher who spent her life inspiring generations of children with imaginative stories and plays. Following Maureen’s death from a brain tumour in 2008, Kirsty channeled her grief into her passion for photography.
She retreated behind the lens of her camera and created Wonderland, an ethereal fantasy world. The photographic series began as a small summer project but grew into an inspirational creative journey.
‘Real life became a difficult place to deal with, and I found myself retreating further into an alternative existence through the portal of my camera,’ said the artist.
‘This escapism grew into the concept of creating an unexplained storybook without words, dedicated to her [my mother], that would echo the fragments of the fairytales she read to me constantly as a child.’
Kirsty, 36, who has a background in fashion and costume design, collaborated with hair and make-up artist Elbie Van Eeden.
Both were in full time jobs so they spent evenings and weekends creating props, wigs, and sets on a shoestring budget and shot in the woodlands surrounding Kirsty’s home in Surrey.
Kirsty developed a deep bond and respect for the locations in which she was working and strove, through her pictures, to ‘remind others of their forgotten magic and beauty’.
She became fascinated with pockets of wild flowers such as the bluebells that would appear for only a few brief weeks of the year. In some cases, she would wait a full 12 months so she could shoot costumes matched to the vivid colors of nature.
Her images looked so hyper-real that it was assumed that they were created in Photoshop. Many people believed the photographs were shot all around the world, when in reality they were taken in locations within short drives of her Surrey home.
So Kirsty began to write diary accounts and blog behind-the-scenes shots about the creation of each photograph. ‘My aim was to portray time passing, an unsaid journey through four seasons, incorporating every color in the rainbow.
As things progressed, her costumes became more elaborate with the props and new characters often taking up to five months to create. ‘The project blossomed into our own private playground,’ she said.
Her three year labor of love is now almost complete and there are plans for an exhibition and accompanying book: ‘I just know that the day I see my mother’s name printed on the inside cover of the Wonderland book, it will feel like I have finally fulfilled my promise to myself and her precious memory.’
