Saintly Cadavers

by Nora Geist :: You need to be a member to contact artists →Join :: Portfolio

‘A Blessed Sacrilege’ (1995). “The erection and the sun scandalise, in the same way as the cadaver and the darkness of cellars”. I drew inspiration from Georges Bataille’s surrealistic novella ‘The Story of the Eye’ and his equally bizarre poem ‘The Solar Anus’ to create this photo-spread depicting a most unholy communion. I shot the original content in black & white film and then added colour to give the models florid and waxy complexions, similar to the 'incorruptible' bodies of saints in reliquaries in various churches, cathedrals and basilicas. The characters portrayed are ‘dead to God but alive (to “sin”)’—a fatal inversion of Romans 6.13. I used a Konica AUTOREFLEX T4 35mm Film SLR Manual for the entire layout.