If you’re feeling the post Christmas blues and need a bit of magic in your life to get through the winter – Samantha Everton’s Instagram might be of help. This Australian artist posts incredible photos on her Instagram that combine bright cheerful colors, interesting patterns, animals, incredible theatrical makeup looks and costumes. We don’t know how she does it, but she combines all those things in a very tasteful, stylish way and the result is simply stunning. It’s a pleasure to view her photographs and especially her portrait series. They’re truly masterful and almost otherworldly, yet they feel so incredibly real and vivid. Take a look, follow her and enjoy a peak into her beautiful world of art.
Indochine is a project that explores the confluence of Eastern and Western culture. Samantha has been brought up in a multicultural environment with three adopted Asian siblings and that definitely impacted her idea of self.
She more than anyone knows what it feels like to create your own identity in the world that constantly tries to push you in various direction. Her project Indochine is a beautiful example of a woman trying to combine her cultural heritage with what’s expected from her in the real world, Eastern traditions blending with European influences.
You can see the juxtaposition and the synergy of her identities through the vivid colors, style choices, backgrounds, makeup variation and hairstyles. In some of these you’ll see a very prominent Asian influences, in others you’ll see the more westernized idea of an Asian woman, in some you’ll see the European cultural takeover and then in others the forceful reclaim on one’s culture and heritage.
Samantha has won multiple awards for her art. She’s very well known and respected both in photography and fine art circles and has won awards for both. She has successfully exhibited her works all over the world, including Sydney, Paris and New York.
She’s known for her commitment and dedication to authenticity, and it’s especially obvious in this project. This series of photographs took her 18 months to shoot and lots of extensive research.
Indochine was shot in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam but it also included many international collaborations and quite a bit of traveling. Samantha made sure to dig deep and research all the nuances of fashion for this and set design took lots of work too.
She went to great lengths to create these couture costumes, the jewelry you see in the photos is hand-crafted, every prop is relevant and placed with intention to bring Samantha’s artistic vision to life.
Samantha also hand picked the artists she collaborated with to make this project a reality. She worked with the head costume designer for Cirque Du Soleil, commissioned artisans in Britain and Greece, found a talented seamstress in Saigon to create the intricate costumes, and even found an artist in China to hand-paint the Chinoiserie wallpapers.
