Destination Departure: Tragic Asylum 6

Steven Perdikis

Context and Background

The year is 2007. I’m in my second year of University. I am studying an Undergraduate Degree in Visual Art, and I’m taking a digital photography class. I am tasked with making a photo book. The theme is portraiture. These are those images.

An essay should accompany this body of work, I’m told. There should be a theme that ties it all together. I have no idea what, or who to use as a portrait subject; other than those surrounding me in my class. I’m interested in the imagery evoked by an enormous cohort of “Gothic Metal”, and I use this as my basis, with my visual style leading more to Romanticism than Goya.

As we’ll see throughout this series of images, however; there’s a bit of obvious darkness throughout! Each image is inspired by a single song.

Image 6: Destination Departure

Another song by the band Tistania inspired this image. Destination Departure is a slow, long dirge about … departure. There’s pain, undertones of loss, and a sense of underlying, seething rage, as the song first line of the song “Caressing the anger / Nothing will ever be the same again / at your most beautiful.”

There’s literal references to death throughout – and it is woven with survivor’s guilt. Introspective, yet at the same time reaching out for help. The track is peppered with vulnerability, and I’ve tried to bring this across to the image.

More About this image

Again, shot with Beth on a day filled with cloud, this image did not have a whole lot of pre-planning, and I’ve had jokes that this should be called the “Headache” series.

This one might be more of a tooth ache. Shot on a Nikon D80.

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