Wonderland is a
project in which British
photographer Kirsty
Mitchell creates
fairytales through still
images. Her photos
have a stunning level of
detail, which is amazing
considering she shoots
on location with models,
crafting her costumes
and props by hand on
a shoestring budget.
Behind the fantasies,
however, is a touching
real-life story.
Wonderland began
in Kirsty’s childhood,
when her mother, an
English teacher, would
read her favorite stories
to Kirsty. “She used to
read to me all the time
up until my early teens,
which sounds quite
old, but it was simply
her way of sharing the
beautiful unusual books
she would
hunt down... they
were often tales from
European folklore, dark
stories, with strange
magical pictures that
stayed with me for the
rest of my life.”
Kirsty studied
photography in art
school, then switched
to fashion design, which
lead to a career that
lasted 11 years, until
everything suddenly
changed. In 2007,
she had returned to
her camera to cope
with a difficult period,
when her mother
was diagnosed with
a brain tumor. “I was
thrown into the trauma
of her treatment and
decline... I began taking
self portraits, creating
more and more elaborate
pictures, to push the real
world as far away as I
possibly could.”
Kirsty’s mother
died in 2008, and
remembering those
time when her mom
read to her as a girl,
Kirsty thought on
them as among the
most special moments
they had shared.
PicsArt Monthly |97