Photographer Thomas Czarnecki’s series about fallen princesses (titled From Enchantment to Down) offers intriguing new possibilities for how classic fairy tales might end. The storybooks all have happy endings, but not so much for these ladies. Czarnecki uses recognizable princesses to create dark and complex narratives within a single frame. With no other images to explain the events leading up to these scenes, the viewer is faced with the question of “what happened to ‘happily ever after?’”
Despite the darkness and mystery of the photographs, there is a sense of eerie humor connected to the demise of these enchanting dames, particularly in the tongue-in-cheek titling: “Just a Trap” (Alice), “Naughty Girl” (Sleeping Beauty), “One Last Wish” (Jasmine), “Not so Romantic” (Beauty and the Beast) and “One More Trophy” (Pocahontas).
