There are rare occasions when glancing at a particular photograph will enthrall you to the point that you hold your breath in admiration. When I lay my eyes on Yasmina Alaoui and Marco Guerra’s astounding photographs, I literally stopped breathing.
The work is a combination of Marco Guerra’s photographic figure studies with Yasmina Alaoui’s exquisite pen and ink patterns inspired by her Islamic design heritage. Their collaboration, enriched by two different sensibilities, combines mysterious beauty with a rich lyrical culture heritage that creates modern, and yet classical images.
In the series they call 1001 Dreams, Guerra first photographs their nude subjects in black and white either with film or Polaroid. Next, Alaoui draws the complex Henna-like patterns, by hand, mostly with pen and ink and with some watercolor. She incorporates textures such as parchment, leaves, and dried insect wings. Finally, it’s all carefully layered together. [source]
