False fruit collection, 2022

The False fruit series has taken inspiration from the use of composition in early renaissance Sienese paintings, the writing of Octavia Butler and all things surreal.

The Sienese paintings that I have been interested in theatrically depict stories from Christ’s life. I am less interested in the religious elements and more in how the compositions are structured and their theatrical and sometimes cartoony feel. The pink-ish building that span most of the paintings of that period look like flimsy paper cut outs. Their nature is reminiscent of theatre flats with scenes of people that play out in front of them. I love Duccio’s Maestà altarpiece painting and his use of panels to describe stories as well as Martini’s illustration of 2 moments in time within the same composition in his paintings ‘Child falling from a balcony’ and ‘Child attacked by a wolf’(1324). The drawings and shapes in the False fruit series are inspired by these paintings.

I was reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower while I was creating this series and while it wasn’t my original intention to include it as a reference, I felt there were underlying parallels between her catastrophic Earthseed world and our present day and decided to paraphrase her on the back of the Jotter pendant as a nod to it(I hope things never get that bad!!). The use of imprinted sycamore leaves and sculpted flowers felt like it bridged these two points of research.

I absolutely loved working on this shoot with Brian and Vida playing with similar references.

This collection is available via my shop.

Photography: Brian Rankin

Model: Vida Adamczewski and Carlos

Direction: Willa Hilditch