‘We are all tremendously out of touch with our dark side’ says Brooke Shaden. ‘Joy in life comes from understanding the darkness’
Shaden is one of America’s most popular high concept photographers. And judging by her work, this fascination with ‘darkness’ is eerily evident. Combining symbolism, myth and horror, Shaden creates compelling dreamlike fantasies that linger in the mind. Looking into one of her photographs feels like gazing at a memory of a fairytale.
Ahead of her debut appearance at The Photography Show 2020 (14-17 March), we spoke to Shaden to shed some light on her pervasive darkness.
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‘Ripples’ -
‘Push and Pull’ -
‘Season Changing’ -
‘Quiet the Night’
by Chris Zacharia
Peering into Shaden’s world, you’re confronted by a distinctive and powerful imagination at play. A woman in a frothy white dress walking into the hollow of a tree; a flock of butterflies swirling around a girl as she kneels in the snow; a lady curls herself beside a murky crater, her dress the colour of lava. Each image is atmospheric, evocative, and somehow even nostalgic.
You recognise the archetypes from legends and stories, but the execution feels fresh and different. Shaden’s work is both familiar and surprising. So how do you end up becoming the kind of person who makes art like this?
‘I was an exceptionally normal child who eventually realised we are all weirdos’ Shaden laughs. ‘I always loved fantasy and dark art but it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realised I could express that in my own way.’
In school, Shaden made a one-minute video for film class (‘I did mine on a girl in a mental asylum who goes crazy and drowns herself in a pool’). Rather than provoking the teachers, they were impressed, submitting it to a local film festival – which she won. Upbeat, positive and quick to laugh, Shaden doesn’t seem like someone who is obsessed with the darker aspects of life.
‘I had the most incredibly normal suburban upbringing’ Shaden reiterates. ‘I wasn’t exposed to art’. But she goes on to explain that maybe this was important after all. ‘Part of my fascination with art and expression, is that we take things that we are fascinated by that aren’t part of our lives and make it a part of ourselves. Darkness was never a part of my life, I was always joyful, so art is a way of experiencing that darkness’
As well as the macabre and strange, Shaden’s work is underpinned by narrative. You get the feeling that you’re looking into a fable, with each photograph being a snapshot of a magical scene. ‘I’m a storyteller’ Shaden says. ‘I chose photography because I could work totally by myself. I wanted to do the wardrobe, the location, the acting, the directing.’
This hands-on approach means Shaden appears in many of her photos. ‘Shooting is actually very fast for me’ she says. ‘The shooting process is the quickest part, five to fifteen minutes for each shoot. Editing takes far longer, sometimes up to 50 hours depending on the complexity. But the most important part is always the concept: the story you’re telling and how to achieve it’
So where does inspiration come from? I suggest that there’s definitely some literature in her work. Again, she laughs. ‘One of my degrees is in English Lit – I’m an avid reader and writer, which I don’t usually tell people, and I’m actually writing a novel’
But there’s also a cinematic quality. After confessing a love of Pan’s Labyrinth, she pays homage to an abiding fixation with mortality. ‘My inspirations have come from a lot of classic painting and dark art painting, particularly people or dead animals – I’ve always been drawn to images of death. The stillness is haunting and beautiful’
Shaden’s images share a thematic unity, but there’s something deeper about their harmony. They all look as though they’ve been shot in the same fantasy world, where the light is gauzy and the colours are muted. Shadows seep through the colours like gas. It’s unique, powerful and mesmerising. Shaden admits that this is ‘the world the way I wish it looked’. ‘So when I edit’ she explains, ‘the process is about desaturating everything and then adding colour back in – so that every bit, whether it’s a tree, a lake, or grass, has the same tone all the way through’
Given that they all share the same feel, does this mean she doesn’t have a favourite photo? ‘It always changes’ she protests. ‘But there is an image on my website Quiet the Night, my body dressed in white and covered in butterflies. It kind of embodies everything I love about visual arts, something a bit darker, grittier, cinematic but relatable in some way – pushing your imagination to a new place while grounded in reality’
Shaden is much more certain about her appearance at this year’s The Photography Show. ‘I’ve wanted to go for years, it’s so well known’ she says. ‘I’m looking forward to having a real, honest conversation during the lecture I’m going to give. So often photo shows are very heavy on the technical info. It creates paranoia for attendees, like am I doing the correct thing, what should I do…so I want to get to the heart of why we create in the first place, and how to create a legacy in our work’
It feels almost futile to ask a photographer like Shaden for advice, yet she’s very practical with her answers. ‘Firstly, follow your deep instinctual curiosity’ she says, in her infectious upbeat certainty. ‘Our upbringing and influences often push us away from this, but if you can follow that true curiosity inside of you, you’ll make work that doesn’t feel like work at all’
It sounds tempting, but Shaden isn’t done yet. ‘And secondly, ask yourself: are you creating for yourself or other people? Think about who your audience is as that will impact your process’
As we finish our conversation, I’m feeling inspired by Shaden’s inner drive and vision, as though it were leaking through the phone and into my ear. ‘The point is for us creatives’ she says, with her distinguishing energy, ‘is to take control of our narrative, no matter what. The goal is to create a story for our work – and that never changes’
The Photography Show runs from 14 to 17 March at Birmingham NEC. Get your tickets for the show now.
Brooke Shaden will be delivering her talk, ‘Creating impactful art’, at the Super Stage on Tuesday 17th March, 15.30 – 16.45
