A Look At The Work Of Dara Scully

22-year-old Swedish photographer Dara Scully specialises in the surreal. Her self-portraits have a fairy-tale air about them, as they often depict her within rural settings, surrounded by anthropomorphic animals. The soft focus and natural light of her photographs gives them a dream-like quality, along with their subdued colours and whimsical subject matter. The themes of freedom and escapism run throughout her work, both in the physical and metaphorical sense.

Remaining within the realms of surrealism, Scully's photographs sometimes take a morbid turn, as throughout her project "Escaping From The Wolves". For example, a sense of unease is felt within the viewer upon looking at this picture from the series (below). Here, we can't see what she is running from. All we know is the darkening clouds and ominous mountains in the background appear to be chasing her.

A project of hers I found particularly interesting is "Bluebird's Heart", wherein Scully appears to play with the idea of death. Life after death is also referenced heavily here, as the bluebird leaving the cage in Scully's supposedly lifeless chest, represents the freedom and continuation of the soul. 

For more information on Dara Scully, visit her website: http://cargocollective.com/darascully