I am developing a photographic project around a storyline, about female vampires, using real Romanian myths and legends. The vampires are not traditional gothic vampires with fangs who turn into bats etc. In my story they are young women who have been transformed and become Earth's Garden, Eden, the balance of all mystery, based on the principle that all life is created through women.



So I am now creating a visualization of these characters, potraying them as creatures of beauty and colour with a mix of the macabre and fantasy.



In short, the story promotes the power of women, being the vehicles through which life is created, making them far more powerful than men. A status that has been oppressed through modern religions, whereas all life is created though a masculine God and all the people associated with God, in the main, are men. In pagan cultures, women were revered by men for their sexuality and their ability to nurture life and many of the gods were women. Female gods had great powers and were feared by men. The sexuality and nurturing power of women in modern religions is regarded as demonic and evil, hence witches etc. Although in Christianity, The Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a symbol of motherhood and nurturing, she is a sanitised version of womanhood. She is a virgin mother with little influence over the nurturing of her son.



In most media, still, women who are overtly sexual are depicted negatively. In film, particularly the horror genre, female antagonists are overtly sexual and female protagonists not. Usually, a female character who is sexually permissive ends up being mutilated. In some parts of the world even today, women are hung from trees for not covering their faces, burnt alive or stoned to death for expressing their sexuality.



However, in contradiction to the above, probably the most critical of women expressing their sexuality today, is other women, as it probably highlights their own fears, or it is simply competitive sabotage. Whatever the reason, it empowers the continuance of female oppression.



The characters I have used from Romanian myth in my story, are called Iele. The English translation means 'them', or 'they'. They are basically mischievous fairies who dance around naked in the forests and devour the energy of young men amongst many other things. The story is written from their perspective.



I am looking for models shooting up to artistic nude.



Studio is in Ilford East London, Uk.



I have pics of my work on here, but you can see more at http://www.facebook.com/VampireXUk



Please check them out.





Shaun

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