3rd place
bronze star award
Kirsty Mitchell
united kingdom
title
Wonderland
The 74 photographs in the Wonderland series took five years to finish, with a further two years to complete the book. The characters are all original and are not a recreation from any existing stories. Everything is real, true scale and can take months to hand make from raw materials. The scenes are described as meditations on old fairy tale illustrations and childhood memories mixed with the artist’s adult grief and spiritual connection with nature. Mitchell makes all the costumes and props, which are then assembled like small film sets and photographed out in the English landscape.
In 2015 Wonderland went on to become the most successful photobook in crowdfunding history, connecting thousands of followers all over the world who have been moved by its story. Today it is in its 3rd Edition and is a touring museum show with Fotografiska.
Inspired by her mother’s passion for literature and the fairy tales they shared, Mitchell embarked on a journey of self healing through the lens; describing photography as becoming both an obsession and a way to process the overwhelming grief she experienced in the years that followed. Mitchell drew on her past careers in fashion design and costume making, to produce images of beguiling dream-like worlds. She would spend months meticulously handcrafting her character’s costumes and props to compose and then photograph in all weathers, out in the ancient woodlands that surrounded her home.
In September 2015 The artist’s five-year journey culminated in the extraordinary book Wonderland, documenting all seventy-four photographs in the collection; as well as containing her highly emotional journal written throughout it’s creation. To this day, it remains the most successful photography book in crowdfunding history, connecting thousands of followers all over the world who have been moved by its story.
Mitchell has exhibited internationally in museums, galleries and institutions and been featured in many of the world’s leading press. The Wonderland series is currently touring as a major exhibition for Fotografiska’s museums in Stockholm, Tallinn, and New York.
Since the completion of Wonderland Kirsty has led an increasing private life due to the birth of her son on Christmas Eve 2015, which was then followed by her breast cancer diagnosis 8 months later. The years of 2016-2018 were an extremely difficult time, which have in turn inspired the story for her next highly anticipated project due for launch by the end of 2022.
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entry description
‘Wonderland’ began in the summer of 2009, it was entirely self-funded and created in memory of the artist’s mother Maureen Mitchell who died of cancer in 2008. Maureen was an English teacher for over 30 years, her life’s great passion was literature, storytelling and beautiful books. In the months that followed her family’s tragic loss, Kirsty fell into depression, retreating to the woods that surrounded her home. Here, she began to forge herself an alternative existence through the portal of her camera, creating pictures filled with fantasy, colour, sadness and longing. This escapism soon evolved into the concept of producing an elaborate storybook without words, dedicated to Maureen, inspired by the faded memories of the books she had read to Kirsty constantly as a child. For the artist it became a way to block out the ghosts of the hospital, a powerful therapy and ultimately a way of living in a more beautiful world than her actual reality.The 74 photographs in the Wonderland series took five years to finish, with a further two years to complete the book. The characters are all original and are not a recreation from any existing stories. Everything is real, true scale and can take months to hand make from raw materials. The scenes are described as meditations on old fairy tale illustrations and childhood memories mixed with the artist’s adult grief and spiritual connection with nature. Mitchell makes all the costumes and props, which are then assembled like small film sets and photographed out in the English landscape.
In 2015 Wonderland went on to become the most successful photobook in crowdfunding history, connecting thousands of followers all over the world who have been moved by its story. Today it is in its 3rd Edition and is a touring museum show with Fotografiska.
about the photographer
Kirsty Mitchell is an award-winning fine art photographer from Surrey, England. Between 2009 and 2014 she created a deeply personal photographic series entitled Wonderland, dedicated to her mother, an English teacher, who passed away from a brain tumor in 2008.Inspired by her mother’s passion for literature and the fairy tales they shared, Mitchell embarked on a journey of self healing through the lens; describing photography as becoming both an obsession and a way to process the overwhelming grief she experienced in the years that followed. Mitchell drew on her past careers in fashion design and costume making, to produce images of beguiling dream-like worlds. She would spend months meticulously handcrafting her character’s costumes and props to compose and then photograph in all weathers, out in the ancient woodlands that surrounded her home.
In September 2015 The artist’s five-year journey culminated in the extraordinary book Wonderland, documenting all seventy-four photographs in the collection; as well as containing her highly emotional journal written throughout it’s creation. To this day, it remains the most successful photography book in crowdfunding history, connecting thousands of followers all over the world who have been moved by its story.
Mitchell has exhibited internationally in museums, galleries and institutions and been featured in many of the world’s leading press. The Wonderland series is currently touring as a major exhibition for Fotografiska’s museums in Stockholm, Tallinn, and New York.
Since the completion of Wonderland Kirsty has led an increasing private life due to the birth of her son on Christmas Eve 2015, which was then followed by her breast cancer diagnosis 8 months later. The years of 2016-2018 were an extremely difficult time, which have in turn inspired the story for her next highly anticipated project due for launch by the end of 2022.
back to gallery