The Smothering Dream

This image might not be quite what you’d expect for that title on this blog. It’s by  Chinese photographer Yushi Li and is from a series she’s entitled “Paintings, Dreams and Love”. It was created in reference to a Dutch painting from 1888 entitled The Roses of Heliogabalus.

While the smothering might not be the type normally featured here, I do love the image. It has a particularly dream like quality to it. Yushi Li created the series in response to the eroticism of classical paintings, typically created by men and objectifying women. She places herself in the image for a good reason…

After some mistook her work as being shot by a male photographer, she began inserting herself into the photos — fully clothed alongside naked counterparts, and often the only person looking directly at the camera.

“Instead of being a passive, ‘looked-at’ thing, I want to be the one who is in control, who is creating the story, who is expressing my fantasy,” said Li.

You can see more images from the artist at her main site.