Let husband and wife team Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison transport you to another time and place with their stunningly surreal photos. With degrees in Fine Arts, the duo construct mind-bending scenes and then ask you, the viewer, to imagine yourself in them. Robert is the main character in each of these photos, he wears a black suit to represent the archetype of the modern man.
Their highly constructed scenes take on multiple disciplines including theater, sculpture, painting and photography.
“Our work begins with the construction of sets and props,” they explain. “These objects are photographed in staged scenes within damaged or constructed landscapes. We manipulate the photograph via darkroom techniques and mixed media. This allows us the opportunity to enhance or subdue elements within the scene. The image is altered further by paints and varnishes. None of the images are real in the factual sense, but they are treated as precious talismans of a lost moment, a documented super-reality, whose message, like that of all myth, transcends the small realities of the day to day world.”
Just what kind of message is the couple trying to convey? These photos ask you to think about mankind’s relationship to his or her planet.