If you have any kind of fear of masks, clowns, dolls, or taxidermy animals, perhaps this artist isn’t for you… but you should check out their work anyway.
Mothmeister is a boyfriend/girlfriend taxidermist-duo from Belgium. With their Wounderland series, the pair leads us through a desolate and disturbing universe, combining dreams, nightmares, ornate costumes, and taxidermy into a surreal Alice in Wonderland kind of world.
The portraiture is of tragic and sometimes scary creatures with their animal counterparts, created in opposition to the dominant culture of exhibitionism and the “Selfie” subculture. “We’ve always been passionate about controversy and curiosities,” they explain. “The ugliness is a reaction against the overdose of beauty in the media, and the masks against the voyeurism of social media and government surveillance.”
A variety of costuming is used, including gimp suits, vintage sailor costumes, terrifying Halloween masks, and lace Gothic dresses, all placed in a dismal setting that reminds me of a Rob Zombie film. At time, their furred, feathered, and scaled familiars are costumed to match. It should also be mentioned that these photos aren’t just taken in their back yard – Mothmeister travels the world in search of locations for these great shots.
As disturbing as these postmortem fairy tales appear, they each have their own story to tell. While the artists relish in the “anti-beauty” of their photographs, it’s difficult to deny their allure. Beauty can be spawned from something less than beautiful.
