Still life is paintings or a drawing of an arrangement of objects. They are an arrangement of inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, household items, and textiles. These paintings use different types of symbolic and religious objects to convey deeper meanings or narratives. Still life paintings began in the 16th and 17th centuries, The Golden Ages. Now in the 21st century still life paintings were edited and modernised still capturing the same and different kinds of objects in a more vibrant and modern way.

Modern, 21st Century

Vanitas

Vanitas are symbolic artwork, it is a genre of still life that shows the fleetingness of life. Vanitas are closely related to the Memento Mori, which is artwork of objects that reminds the viewer the fragility and shortness of life, for example some of the symbols include skulls and extinguished candles.

Paulette Tavormina

Paulette creates still life imagery of lit objects such as fruit and vegetables that are immersed in dark backgrounds. The dark background enhances the lit objects making each individual objects stand out from one another. This unique feature creates an interesting and unique depth, which leads the eye to each section of the photo while also creating a more deeper and meaningful photo. With fewer negative space, this draws your eyes in closer enhancing the abstract composition, enabling you to have more of a direct focus on the objects. This feature allows you to see and focus on more of the small and intricate objects placed around the photo, creating more texture and unique formations in areas that you wouldn’t notice from a distance.

These wear the three pictures I liked the most. The lighting for all three photos didn’t change and neither did the background.

Growing up I played violin for six years and music has always been a part of my life so having a tattered stringless violin in the photos displayed how growing up music has changed around me and my taste in music has changed, whilst also reminding the viewer that eventually everything must come to an end like how this Violin was played for the last time before becoming a prop. I have also loved reading since I was younger, and I used to read with my mum when I was little.

The candle stick holder and the little pot bulk out the images whilst maintaining a vintage sort of look the wear and tear on the holder helping to do so.

By having the background be black card and the objects on white card and creating this sharp corner it helps the image to seem more streamlined and elegant with how smooth it is. the violin almost stands as a separate being; and in the last image lays back and pulls the piece to gather like a lady in a renaissance painting.