Her life was further changed in 2008 when her mother
was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her mother was
diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her mother, Maureen,
eventually passed away in November of that year – a
double-edged sword that both deeply devastated
Kirsty, and forever changed her artistic course. It was
this tragic turning point that spawned the inspiration
behind Kirsty’s most expansive and intricate project to
date, the renowned “Wonderland” series of
photographs.
Dedicated to the memory and legacy of her mother
who had taught her the beauty of imagination and the
wonder of nature, Kirsty began this series in the
summer of 2009 as a means of catharsis. She intended
to initially only produce a small series of personal
photographs but soon found that the project was
consuming her and that she was finding inspiration all
around her, blossoming in her mind by the haunting
memories of her mother. A strong desire to create
works of art that would endure and continue to honor
Maureen for all time using the essences of the same
phantasmagoria that she so loved in life. The camera
lens became a portal through which Kirsty could
abandon realism, and her work became a conduit
where, for months, therapeutic energy was channeledinto the creation of pieces of unparalleled beauty and
ingenuity.Her career truly began to take off when she chose
that, in order to celebrate the whimsy and magic of
her mother, she would dedicate herself entirely to the
“Wonderland” series, working on nothing else and
creating magical glimpses into the worlds of fantasy
that her mother would read to her. Mitchell says that
the characters she depicts in her portraits are “faded
memories of stories Mother read to me as a child,
mainly their original book illustrations, mixed up with
dreams and the underlying sadness of adult grief.”In
this way, Mitchell channels her pain and mourning into
her art, conjuring up physical realms of surreal magic
that she transforms into physical manifestations that
blur childish fancies with the grim reality of adult life,
loss, and suffering.Using the medium of photography to capture the
fleeting and ethereal glimpses of life that would go
otherwise unnoticed, Kirsty creates entire tableaus by“The Story Teller” 2010 / Wonderland - Photo Courtesy of Kirsty Mitchell © 2014 All Rights Reserved