Ophelia by Gregory Crewdson is a
photograph dealing with the subject of William Shakespeare’s story Hamlet.
Ophelia is a character in Shakespeare’s play who is distraught after losing her
father Polonius and as a result of her grief commits suicide by drowning
herself in a river. Ophelia is the victim of manipulation throughout the play,
and her madness is the result of this control. Hamlet too has a feigned madness
in the play, which is supposedly being brought about by his love for Ophelia.
Crewdson’s photo takes Ophelia out
of context of an outdoor river scene and places her in an interior setting of a
suburban home. Various artifacts of home life are scattered throughout the
house, but the most visually striking element is the foot or so of water
flooding the interior, with a pale body floating at the center. The waterline
almost breaks the picture into two planes, and the lower half of the photo
gives an interesting reflection of the upper half. The reflections of light
have a disconcerting quality to them, from the window reflections which cast a
late dawn after the storm kind of quality, to the small candle shaped sconce,
or the most disturbing light of the floor lamp still casting its light even
though the plug is below the waterline. The diagonals of the staircase are an
effective visual element to bring your eye back to the body, as does the
curvature of the sofa back leading directly to the face of the figure. I
particularly like the small highlight on the center framed picture above the
staircase, it has the appearance of a father figure with grey hair and seems a
fitting detail perhaps representing Polonius. Other details that grabbed my
attention were the small pill bottle and glass of water at the edge of the
coffee table, and the two slippers on different steps towards the bottom of the
staircase.
Crewdson supposedly leaves no
detail to chance in his carefully staged photos, and when viewing this photo it
shows. His ability to portray the banal and give it a hauntingly beautiful
quality is a skill that truly takes an artistic eye and elevates his photos to
a realm beyond the ordinary.
