This session with Ghene Snowdon Photography was awesome, we went to the Temple area in London and shot next to old brick walls, and as you’ll see in part 2 of Mythological Beings, in a garden.

She played a bit with black and white and I quite like the results!

So why an undead mermaid?

As a child, I was fascinated with mermaids. I loved The Little Mermaid by Disney and later, I tried to use this interest to try to tame a phobia. For instance, I fantasised I was a mermaid to mentally get used to swimming. It didn’t really work at that time, but a friend taught me a few things last year and I was (hopefully still am…) able to swim on my back.

I wrote some flash fiction recently which was inspired by this experience, but reversed: it’s about a mermaid taming her fear of air.

Needless to say, I jumped on the Magic Death Mermaid dress by BlackMilkClothing last year. It’s sold out but their clothes often appear on online second hand shops. The mermaid skeleton, the flowers and jewels, and the ammonite-skulls are lovely.

Mermaiding is a thing as well. I discovered more in the summer 2018 issue of Faerie magazine, now enchanted living, as there was an article about the Mermaid School in Singapore. You can also find other professional mermaids in a lot of places (but mostly in water 😉 ).

In the same magazine, I found some gorgeous pics by Elisabeth Elder of mermaids in a sea of flowers, which sounds a bit like dead mermaids but the pictures are very flamboyant – I’d love to do a photoshoot like this later!

In Russian and slavic folklore, Rusalki are undead water creatures. In the East Slavic epic poem Sadko, mermaids are also mentioned as the hero spends time in the Sea King realm and a mermaid helps him get back home.

Ilya Repin painted a gorgeous scene inspired by the story. Sadly, when I went to visit the Russian museum in Saint Petersburg, the staff told me the painting was in Barcelona for an exhibition, so I couldn’t see it.

References

📷 Pictures by Ghene Snowdon: @snowdonphoto/ https://www.snowdon.photography/

Model, styling: me, @lyraophelia

🧥 Morgue Gimme Bones vegan leather jacket by @killstarco

👗 Magic Death Mermaid velvet dress by @blackmilkclothing

👠 Shoes from a charity shop in London

👄 Labret piercing by @magdapiercing from @nemesistattoo

💄 Everlasting liquid lipstick in Reverb by @katvondbeauty

👁️ Tattoo liner in Trooper, shade + light eye palette, lash liner, highlighter from the Alchemy palette and brow pomade in Satellite Blue by @katvondbeauty

😊 Lock it foundation, concealer and setting powder by @katvondbeauty
highlighter from the Alchemy palette by @katvondbeauty

Hair by @pedro_plastic from @miemanihair