T
he SHAKE OF OPHELIA recounts the
mystical tale of a young, beautiful
AND eccentric girl, born into a
life of luxurY and privilege at the
turn of the 19th century. Suffocated by protocol and
longing for adventures to distant, exotic lands far removed
from her own, she beguiles a travelling spice merchant, embarking
with him on a journey that would lead them across the dry plains
of Africa to the intricate maze of the Far East. Incense, opium, herbs
and outsized jewels dazzle her senses: this English rose, once lost,
finds herself at last amidst the feverish exoticism of The Orient.
In the still sands of a faraway desert, her other worldly, porcelain
beauty casts its potent spell over a powerful shaman priest. Struck
by this rare creature, he determines that she must stay. And so it
is in a chalked-out circle that they stand; he, a wild, caped figure,
calling upon the spirits in an ancient, mystical tongue; she, a
white-eyed innocent, convulsing as the voodoo chant takes over
her very soul. As the mad utterances subside and the crowd falls
hushed, the ritual is complete: She would forever be enslaved to
this ochre-stained kingdom.
Saturated in jewels from her homeland together with the rare
and enigmatic stones collected along her travels, this collection
recounts her journey: The lust-worthy, escapist marriage of fine
materials from a titled lineage, coupled with the aesthetics, motifs
and traditional adornments of the swirling, tribal desert. Clasps
mimic the cage in which she finds herself trapped; tassels SHAKE
with the memory of her shaken trance, at once a curse and
her salvation from a previously mapped-out existence.
Enslaved, yes, but forever to be adorned in exquisite
beauty, such as she could never have imagined in
her wildest dreams…
1 comment:
putting this straight onto my wish list
xrach
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