Romance Is Dead.
This project is called Romance Is Dead. I was inspired by my own thought and impression on contemporary love and romance in modern society. I came across this concept as I wanted to represent how I visualise romance in our contemporary society. I see romance as a thing of the past, almost obsolete for the younger generation. Now its all about ‘Netflix and Chill’ and one night stands, not many people actually fight for someone they’re interested in; if they can’t get the person of their choice the first time they move onto the next piece of meat. It is almost if the main goal now is to sleep with the person you have met and then move onto the next person that you meet, disregarding any form of romance other than venereal intimacy. I do not fully believe that romance is purely dead within our generation, however, I do not fully believe that romance conforms to its conventional and traditional forms. Each photo is symbolic for a broken and shattered side of romance and love that is prevalent in contemporary society.
My Bloody Valentine
The photograph here depicts white roses with blood cascading down the petals in a black bottle. White roses symbolise purity, sympathy and love. The roses are juxtaposed by the blood cascading down them. This is metaphorical for the tarnishing of romance and love. Some say that love can be painful, but love is the only thing that gets rid of pain; but when our affection has been broken too many times, it can become tarnished and overburdened with agony. The black bottle is metaphorical for a physical person, the roses represent the persons heart. The reason why I used a black bottle was to represent the blackening of the persons actions and outer being. The roses are wilting, this is symbolic for the persons love slowly dying out and ending.
Ephemeral Amour
This photograph here depicts two wines glasses, one of them which is smashed with women’s jewellery inside and candles in between them. The glass wine red in symbolises strength and life. The smashed wine glassed with jewellery inside symbolises a broken woman, she is having an affair with another man who does not know that she is engaged. The ring in the glass is meant to represent an engagement ring. Both wines glasses represent a male and a female person. This photograph represents an affair.
The Magnitude of Temptation
This photograph here depicts a red apple with a knife piercing the top of the apple. I wanted to incorporate philosophy into this picture to convey meaning on a deeper level. The apple is a symbolic fruit for knowledge, life and love. This meaning dates back to Genesis 1 in the Old Testament. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden had sacred fruit (specifically apples) that God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from. The temptation from the serpent (Lucifer) led Eve to eat from the apple. Eating the forbidden fruit gave Eve gnosis (the knowledge of good and evil) the temptation then lead to destruction and problems for both Adam and Eve. The symbology of the apple to represent life, love and faithfulness. The knife represents temptation to have an affair or to disregard love entirely. The knife symbolises temptation and the apple represents life. With the knife going trough the apple, the person is weakened.
