The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.  

Today’s featured artist:  Kirsty Mitchell


Described as a multi-faceted artist, British fine art photographer Kirsty Mitchell draws on her past careers in fashion design and costume making, to produce images of beguiling dream-like worlds all shot in the ancient woodlands of her home county Surrey. Kirsty describes her approach as ‘Fantasy for Real’ spending months meticulously handcrafting her character’s costumes and props to coincide with the bloom of wild flowers and the seasonal extremes of her local environment.
After graduating from six years of study at The London College of Fashion and Ravensbourne College of Art, Kirsty went on to complete internships at the studios of Avant Garde designers, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan. Her career as a fashion designer continued for over a decade until 2008 when Kirsty developed a sudden and deeply emotional passion for photography, during the treatment of her mother’s terminal cancer. It was through the lens that Mitchell felt able to channel her grief and communicate emotions she felt unable to talk about with the people she loved. She describes photography as becoming both an obsession and a therapy.

In the summer of 2009 Kirsty embarked on the creation of the Wonderland series, a project intended as a book in her mother’s memory. The international acclaim for this body of work led Mitchell to leave her fashion career behind in 2011 and after 5 intensive years, Wonderland was completed in 2014.

A year later, after a number of offers from major publishers, Mitchell decided to launch her own crowd funding campaign to create the Wonderland book in order to produce a high end publication made from the finest materials possible, printed in Italy. The campaign went on to become the most successfully funded photography book in crowd funding history, raising more than £334K in just 28 days and was completely sold out within 3 months. The Wonderland book is now in it’s Second Edition and continues to sell around the world. The series is now an international touring museum show, hosted by Fotografiska, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious museums for contemporary photography.

Gammelyn’s Daughter
The Fade Of Fallen Memories
The Ghost Swift 2018
The Queen’s Armada
The Secret Locked In The Roots

To see more of this project, click here.

A film about this project, click here 

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s.  After establishing the art buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram

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3 Comments

  1. Excellent Photography. Ms. Mitchell is a major artist. Well one.

    • Thank you, Xavier for taking the time to write. Yes Kirsty Mitchell is a major artist and a fabulous person.

      Have a lovely day!

      SS


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