Serpents
In Genesis 3:1-5 it is the serpent’s power that leads Eve to disobey God’s command and consequently cause the downfall of man and thus expulsion from the garden of Eden. The original tempter of Eve the temptress, the serpent has come to represent desire, lust and ultimately evil. Regardless of ones position on women’s rights and religion, the serpent is one of the oldest mythological symbols in a variety of historical contexts. ‘More wise than any beast of the field’, as the bible describes, the serpents strength and consequently power over human kind provides this cold-blooded creature a position of greatness and respect. They can kill with just one venomous bite: the serpent has come to represent the dual nature of good and evil, life and death.
Guido Mocafico captures this dual nature in his photographs of snakes. They are as deathly and dangerous as they are beautiful and divine. Truly the sublime, natures brilliance is accentuated in the squirming, entangled wreath of serpents. His images are brilliant, sleek, sharp and evocative. The colours become surreal, blinding even - too perfect, to be true.
Using a large-format analogue camera with colour transparencies, he develops long term photographic series with a hint of darkness including skulls, medusa, snakes, arachnea and venenum. He also meticulously recreates still lives and has researched and shot the movement of fine watches’s to precision.
Aside from large bodies of work for books and exhibitions, he has also produced an impressive array of commercial and editorial shoots. Most recently, he has produced work for major fashion brands including Gucci, Chanel, Clarins, Shiseido, YSL, Clinique, Dior, Bvlgari, Armani and Hermès and published in magazines such as Numéro, Numéro Homme, Paradis, V Mag, Vogue US, Vogue France, Men’s Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The Face, Wallpaper.
Some of my favourite Mocafico serpents are below. Poisonously beautiful!
