Metamorphosis at ArtPrize 2013

I open my trunk. Scattered about are treasures I have collected and repurposed awaiting the magic of the next imaginative girl to come along. Mom or Dad drives up and out pops my soon-to-be fairy. A life-sized doll. She is so excited to start, yet a bit confused. I have photographed her before in her fancy clothes, favorite earrings, bows in her hair. In these past sessions, she is careful not to muss up her special outfit. I ask her to put on a dress that has been purposefully tea-stained. I explain that I want her to look like she is a forest fairy or a garden nymph. Whatever fits the scene where we have chosen to meet. I want her to get dirty. I want her to mess up her hair. I want her to be free, wild and strong.

Most of the time we leave the parents behind. We go off and start to pretend. I start to tell the story of her character to play. As we walk to the first spot, she is chattering about her school mates and soccer practice. She gets distracted by the spider nest near the tree I have asked her to sit on. We decide to move on to spiderless trees, watching out for poison ivy along the way.

She is delicate at first trying not to soil her photo dress. I coax her into a pose verbally as I get my camera settings correct. She beams a picture perfect smile. I take the photo, but I am looking for something more haunting. I tell her a story: She is a river fairy. She is lonely and slightly broken. Her arms are a bit askew. Amazingly, she becomes that fairy. I'm breathless as I take the photo. I change the story and I say she is strong and powerful, basking in the sunbeam. After gingerly stepping through the muck, she morphs into a majestically regal river fairy. 

By the end of our hike through the woods, or the garden, or the beach, she is disheveled, dirty and exuberant. She has done things she didn't think she could do. She sat on a log swarming with bugs. She rolled in the dirt. She sloshed through muck. She sprawled out on wet moss. She waded in a river. She covered herself in ash. She crawled in a sand hole full of chilly lake water.

These little babies and toddlers I photographed in the past have morphed into beautiful, strong girls. Each one made me proud and inspired. By the end of the sessions, each girl was elated. We had so much fun with this project. They are all so excited to be a part of ArtPrize.

I have had five sessions with six girls for my project Metamorphosis. My venue for this project is Bang Blowdry Bar in Grand Rapids, MI. I was chosen by Lindsey to be the sole artist for ArtPrize at this venue. My plan is to have four large panels printed for the front windows with images from the Metamorphosis sessions. I would also like to print several images to display inside the venue.

I am raising funds to pay for a portion of the materials and printing for this series. If I reach my goal of $1000, those funds will go to the materials and printing of additional images to be placed inside the venue, allowing more of the story, hard work and beauty of these girls to be seen and enjoyed.

If I am unable to raise $1000, I will need to finance the materials and printing myself, reducing the size of the series I would like to show. I appreciate any help to bring these images to ArtPrize! We (the girls and I) worked very hard to get this far!

** I will update this post with the link to my Kickstarter project to view more photos from Metamorphosis  as soon as it is live **

My Kickstarter Project is LIVE! See more details about Metamorphosis and feel free to share the project with others: Metamorphosis Kickstarter Project


See more photos here: Lisa Olsen Photography on Facebook