"Stations of a blessed sacrilege" (1995). Georges Bataille’s erotic novella “The Story of the Eye” was the inspiration for my photographic depiction of a most unholy communion. I shot the original content in black & white film and then hand-coloured each photo to add a provocative quality to the set. The models’ skin has the appearance of polished wax, like the 'incorruptible' corpses of saints displayed in reliquaries of various churches, cathedrals and basilicas. If a body is judged as incorruptible after death, this is most often seen as a sign that the individual is a saint. The occurrence of incorruptibility—in which the bodies of some saints are thought to have been miraculously preserved—is sometimes referred to as "saintly cadavers". I used a Konica AUTOREFLEX T4 35mm Film SLR Manual camera throughout the series. Click on each thumbnail to get a larger image with more details as well as numerous photo outtakes.
