Major Project: Meet the Weird Sisters

I have my three characters fully fleshed out now. I decided to name the three 'The Weird Sisters' in honour of the witches in MacBeth.

singer Lana Del Rey and Marilyn Monroe, inspiration for 'Selkie'

My first of the sisters is Selkie, shes going to be the figurehead for the glamourisation of violence against women in fashion photography. Partly based on the myth of the Selkie bride i want her images to tell the story of a wild creature who ends up trapped by the man who professed to love her and becomes violent. Ive decided to reference iconic blondes for her look, classic tragic beauties from the golden age of cinema. These images should be dreamy and my Selkie should look beautiful and melancholic, im going to be taking photos near and around water as she longs for the freedom of the sea. I might also reference the iconic Ophelia, a symbol for the tragic beauty.

Rachel Maclean (left) Cultural appropriation and Scottish stereotypes for sister two

The second sister is Drosten, named after the pictish Drosten Stone (but i also liked how it sounded like Doutzen Kroes). This sister makes reference to Scottish culture both historical and modern, I want to have pictish blue woad paint and symbols to have a nod to the lost culture of the picts and also have some modern stereotypes and cliches about Scottishness. Drosten is the embodiment of cultural appropriation in fashion, of course im using an exaggerated version of my own culture to represent this. The idea is: what if hipsters suddenly became obsessed with Scottish culture? What if the ideas of slumming it wasnt drinking pabst blue ribbon beer in Williamsberg but drinking Buckfast and Tenents out in Glasgow? What stereotypes and ironic cliches would be appropriated by outsiders?

Dark and gothic high fashion photography and Scotlands bloody history represent the third sister

My final sister is Agnes, whose name comes from the legendary Black Agnes the Countess of Dunbar. Women are often missing from Scottish history, relegated to figures of tragedy. Since im going for a bit of Gothic romance i will make reference to these tragic figures, like Mary Queen of Scots at the time of her execution. Ive also become quite interested in the tales of witches around the Ochil Hills where they danced with the Devil around Witches Craig, which is just up the road from the college. Agnes is darkly romantic and witchy, i want her images to reference Scotland's bloody history, witchcraft and mystery and how this dark romance gets used in fashion photography by stylists courting controversy with Illuminati imagery or just being very over the top with their symbolism of duality.