Kirsty MITCHELL ✿

Kirsty Mitchell's photography work is a spectacular piece of art. Inspired by the beautiful stories her mom used to say, she created the amazing Wonderland series, a collection of fairytale characters, all shot with natural light and in real locations.

All her stories are adorned with beautiful props, special flower combinations and impressive set designs, all created by a strong design team consisted by friends and volunteers.

The preparation of each shot may take up to one month, depending on the weather conditions and the studies required on each detail. Make up artist Elbie Van Eeden, a long time partner of Mitchell, spends many hours on hair and make up,as all the stories demand complicated hair props and colours that match the scenery.

The Wonderland series took up to one year to complete.
Her work is totally breathtaking and have great emotion that exudes through the photos.

I was born in 1976 and raised in the English county of Kent, known to many as the 'Garden of England'.  My earliest memories were always of the stories read to me by my mother as a child ... how it felt to be curled into her side, listening to the rush of her breath as she paused for effect, before launching into yet another characters voice. She was an English teacher, and read to me almost everyday, to an age I could no longer admit to my friends. She instilled in me the most precious gift a mother could, her imagination and a belief in beauty...... it became my root, and the place I constantly try to return to in my work, and my dreams.
Growing up, art became my sole passion. I studied until I was 25, taking courses in the history of art, photography, fine art, and then on to train in 'costume for film and theatre' at the London College of Fashion. Having graduated and worked for a short time in the industry, I decided to further my education, and returned to university, completing a first class degree with honours in fashion design, at Ravensbourne in the summer of 2001. During this time I also completed two internships at the design studios of Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, both of whom have effected me greatly.
Since then I have worked full time as a fashion designer for a global designer brand, until in 2007 when personal illness brought a sudden change in myself, and led me to pick up a camera. I cannot explain how this happened, but a new, deep, and genuine need was born. I used to say I had never truly 'looked' until it was through a lens... life was different, more beautiful, more sad, and extreme in every sense of the word. People mattered, how they sat, how they slept, how they looked when they thought no one else cared. I fell in love with the faces of strangers, and photography gave me a new purpose......  that is, until March 2008.
Tragically my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and my world fell apart. Photography became my only escape when I could no longer talk about how I felt. I lost myself in street portraiture, focusing on those who reflected my own sadness and loss. I later turned the camera inwards, and began photographing myself throughout the hardest year of my life. It became an utter fantasy that blocked out the real world, and a place where I could return to my memories of her, far away from those hospitals walls.