All is Vanity Series by Ingrid Mida

All is Vanity
Ingrid Mida 2012

All is Vanity is the translation of the latin Vanitus Vanitum, a biblical reference to the transitory nature of life. This theme conveys the vanity of pursing earthly pleasures and accomplishments in the face of certain death and is the underlying premise for my show at Loop Gallery which ran January 22, 2011 to February 15, 2011.

In this photographic series suggesting the haunted gardens of Versailles, I attempt to convey the journey and emotions of grief. Inspired by the work of Cindy Sherman, Sarah Moon and Deborah Turbeville, I have used soft focus, movement and filters to evoke a terrible kind of beauty. This series of ten black and white photographs pose the question of whether beauty and death are facets of the same experience.

Oft shall death and sorrow reign (All is Vanity Series)
by Ingrid Mida 2012

The image above, entitled Oft shall death and sorrow reign, was taken in the gardens of Versailles,  a place which represents the pinnacle of vanity and excess. This photo is symbolic of an apocolyptic moment when life changes in a heart beat.  Catapulted into a journey of grief, you become a member of a club that you never wanted to join.

Ere we shall meet again (All is Vanity series)
Ingrid Mida 2011

My familiarity with loss and death has given me a deep appreciation for the fragile and temporal nature of life. And creating beauty is a means by which I have cheated death. In the past, some of my work has been criticized for being too pretty and too impersonal. This work is anything but, and represents a big leap in my growth as an artist. Dark and haunting with me as the subject of many of them, it is about me, but not about me. The journey of loss and grief is a universal experience.

To see my interview with Artsync tv, the link is here.