What if the only images you saw of people who looked like you were dead?
March 4, 2019 9:06 AM   Subscribe

Infinite Essence is my response to pervasive media images of black people dead and dying. Being gunned down by police officers, drowning and washing up on the shores of the Mediterranean, starving and suffering in award-winning photography. The trope of the black body as a site of death is everywhere. [...] With this series, I’ve set about on a quest to recast the black body as the cosmos and eternal. I hand paint the models' bodies with fluorescent paints, and [...] for a fraction of a second, their bodies illuminate as the universe. We view the beauty of the soul and our deeper cosmic connections communicated through them. [via NPR]
posted by filthy light thief (8 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
The title comes from text included in the Mikael Owunna's writing that accompanies his photographs. The full phrase is:
What if the only images you saw of people who looked like you were dead and dying bodies? How would that affect the way you move through the world, how would that enter (and hamper) your body?
And I also excerpted his words about his process and vision in the OP:
With this series, I’ve set about on a quest to recast the black body as the cosmos and eternal. I hand paint the models' bodies with fluorescent paints, and using my engineering background I have augmented a standard flash with an ultraviolet bandpass filter, to only pass ultraviolet light. Using this method, in total darkness, I click down on the shutter – “snap” – and for a fraction of a second, their bodies illuminate as the universe. We view the beauty of the soul and our deeper cosmic connections communicated through them.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:08 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is absolutely beautiful.
posted by sarcasticah at 9:21 AM on March 4, 2019


These are stunning, what a clever idea - thanks for posting this!
posted by Snacks at 10:14 AM on March 4, 2019


Beautiful.

One of the things that I really liked about tumblr despite all its problems is that you could choose to be exposed to a whole different range of ideas of human beauty than you get from the regular media/advertising.
posted by praemunire at 10:21 AM on March 4, 2019 [2 favorites]


Incredibly beautiful, both the concept and the images. Thank you for sharing!
posted by sucre at 11:24 AM on March 4, 2019


A. You make images of people who look like you embodying the image of sky goddess Nut
posted by otherchaz at 11:55 AM on March 4, 2019 [2 favorites]


I'm so curious as to how this effect was made. The behind the scenes videos surprised me, I had assumed the models had been painted with some kind of UV reactive paint and then photo'd with blacklights or something. It's still possible the model is covered in paint and I just underestimated how invisible such paints are. This series looks really incredible, I'd love a chance to see them in person printed on the aluminium.
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:48 PM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is beautiful. Very moving.
posted by sevenofspades at 4:18 PM on March 4, 2019


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