Tableau Vivant (Part 2)

Today, the most recognizable tableau vivant is the movie still. Not unlike a contemporary movie still, these photos are presented in an anamorphic (wide screen) format - except these aren’t based on real movies. Each of these photos was intentionally staged to suggest a narrative or story. The viewer is invited to complete the narrative with a past, present and future. There is no single story to tell. Instead there may be as many stories as there are viewers.

"Life After Death", 13"x19", Claria ink on photo paper, 2008

Tableau Vivant (Part 1)

A young boy peers expectantly into a cabinet with untold wonders.

This is a tableau vivant (French for “living picture”). Before the advent of radio and television, tableaux vivants were a popular form of entertainment. Costumed “actors” would pose on a theater stage without moving or speaking, one scene following another - in effect telling a story. With the advent of photography in the mid nineteenth century, early fine art photographers took up the tableau vivant as an approach to picture making.

"The Majik Box", 13"x19", Claria ink on paper, 2008