Anthropomorphism // Metamorphosis // Me&Edward // Recreations

NOUN (plural metamorphoses /-siːz/)

[MASS NOUN] Zoology

1(In an insect or amphibian) the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages:

[COUNT NOUN]: in insects with a complete metamorphosis the wings arise from thickenings of the epidermis

A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one

Metamorphosis is a concept about the unlimited transformations of human body. Just like a chameleon, it’s fitting, just like a virus, it’s mutating, just like a personality, it’s changing. Something new is about to birth, a metamorphosis, an organic complexity. - Me and Edward

Me&Edward is a French photographer, he works on impulse, finding himself more pleased with his spontaneous work rather than planned projects. I'm going to be researching metamorphosis and he's done a series on the topic which is really useful. The concept of metamorphosis is a really strange one, on one hand it can be seen as purely biological or scientific, but it could also be taken as a metaphor. The Metamorphosis is a book written by Franz Kafka which focuses on a salesman who has been transformed, or metomorphasised, into a large, monstrous, insect-like creature. Although this is a literal take on metamorphosis, it links well to Me&Edward's work as well as showing how people react to change and the unusual 

 'A snapshot is like a frozen sample of people’s existence and of their emotions, and that is fascinating to me. Once it’s there, still, it’s easier to analyse '- This quote is from Edward&Me's website and explains quite clearly some of the reasons he photographs. I feel I can relate to what he's saying here, an original photo freezes a person as they were at the time. His photo's are quite clearly edited in some of his series' but others have been altered solely to bring out the emotions of the person in the photograph. The way he edits and manipulates his photos never seem to be irrelevant or pointless, it always compliments the subject of the photo. I think that Edward&Me is very diligent on finding separation between object and emotion, even within a person, and this is evident in his pseudonym 'Edward&Me', which he took to disassociate the part of him that's a photographer from the part of him which is a sensitive human being.

In this photo, a catlike tail has been edited onto the area of the tail bone of the human. This is where the metamorphosis almost breaches anthropomorphism. As with all of the photos in this series, they have a nude colour palate. There's a clear inclusion of pinks and the lighting highlight the shadows beneath the contours of the skin and bones. Despite this, it's quite neutral and the photo is neither too rich in blues nor yellows, without both warmth but not too cold. I like how abstract this picture is and when pared with the fact the body is floating it looks more like an entity than a person.

This picture is really cool because unlike a lot of abstract, conceptualism, it doesn't look over done or fake. Edward&Me has a diploma in 2D&3D graphic design which is probably how he created the spikes but I would have no idea how to recreate this photo with such crispness. The spikes look like part of the body itself and the transition between what's there and what isn't is seamless.

This photo is quite simple really, all that's been changed as far as I can see is the elongation of the neck. If you were to remove the manipulation of the neck I think it would still be a really nice picture due to the lighting and colours. The shadows and ways the body has been lit make it appear almost as if it resembles marble, the contours and dips of the body share a likeness with that of Michelangelo's David.

I really like the positioning and staging of this photo. The way it adheres to the rule of thirds well as how the light behind him is minutely lighter than each layer and the further from the body, the darker it gets. This creates a very sinister effect, Despite how inhuman the face is, the body is quite grounding and almost gives of a reflection of what a person is, and how they choose to portray them-self.

This picture is really awesome. My favourite thing about this series is definitely the lighting and the impact it has on the body and the mood go the photos. The subject of the photo has the perfect body for the conditions of the photograph due to the definition of him. Not just in muscles but also ribs, bones and dents and dips on the neck and chin and tendons etc. I love the positioning of the body in this one, it creates something really sharp. The heart could be recreated by taking a photo of a heart (probably a pigs heart) and photoshopping it in. Or, it could be created by stitching in the heart and including mixed media. 

The ribs and abdominal muscles in this photo are heavily shadowed and yet don't look like they should fall into the 'horror' category, which is really interesting. The fact that there are four bellybuttons is kind of gross but would be easy to recreate and makes the subject more inhuman. 

Recreations:

I decided rather that mimicking Me&Edward's work exactly, I'd just take the concept and try to apply it to my work. The pulling and elongating of features, unexplainable body proportions and elements- that kind of stuff. 

The surreal body manipulation was a really prominent feature in Me&Edward's work. Where he focused a lot more on the body, I decided to focus more on the face, following a similar set of boundaries.

To create these eye pulling images, I took a selection of photos, one where no eyes were being pulled and then two more with me pulling each eye. Then I used the clone tool to clone the pulled eyes onto the normal face which kept the appearance of the sagging eyes but by removing the hands, the eyes are seemingly pulled by their own means.
After creating each image I played around a but further, testing to see if they would look better warmer, colder, grittier, monochrome, etc.

 

 

 <This image is very vibrant so I translated that idea into the below images. These two photos aren't from their Metamorphosis series but I decided to try and use them as inspiration none the less.

 <This image features elements from both of the above image. The hand and vibrant colours are paired with a 3D effect (see my next artist research page), but this edict also creates an almost double exposure feel.

 <Vibrant colours, reds and blues.

 < This image takes the double exposure idea more literally than Edward&Me's example. Whereas his work seems to depict a soul or something leaving the body, the idea of sky's and country grooves are like the soul within the body, being brought out through double exposure.

These photos were inspired by Edward&Me's focus on body's in his Metamorphosis series.