Inspired by the cinema, French photographer Victoria Audouard takes us on a little adventure in this photo series entitled Mirrors. The portraits are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, where every adventure is a confusing whirl of complex ideas. Each fairytale setting features a young girl reflecting the landscape back towards the viewer through a rounded mirror. As she shields herself from the outside world, she seems consumed by an eerie loneliness.
The earthy palettes cover the composition in a gradient of color, producing a surreal and very flat background. Through digital manipulation, Audouard creates the fictional settings in which it is difficult to distinguish between reality and fiction. The blurry lack of depth behind the figures produce a confusing juxtaposition against the strong, crisp landscapes within the mirror.
The imaginative photographer says her ideas come from her dreams and nightmares. She says, “I'm most interested in the memory…the process of trying to remember the dreams. In French we say ‘fixei,' meaning ‘to freeze, to keep.' I'm always looking for the perfect memory, except I don't think that really exists. I want to keep my dreams, express my feelings in which words cannot easily express. Photography balances that, compensates.”
