Ngoc (Alice) Le's Photograms

I chose an Oriental/Japanese art theme throughout my photograms. I’ve been collecting Oriental art stencils for years, so I decided to use them for this project in conjunction with my own art sketches. The three pieces tell a story of a Mermaid and a mortal man. I’ve always been interested in Mermaid tales, and there was a particular legend in Japanese folklore that I wanted to explore. It is said that when a person eats the flesh of a mermaid, they can gain immortality, but chances are that the mermaid's flesh will either kill them or transform them into horrible creatures. I drew all of the figures by hand and printed them on transparencies. The borders and background are stencils.

Photogram #1.
I sat the mermaid atop a pile of eggs that she had laid. The mermaid in Japanese folklore is called a Ningyo, a creature with it a mouth like a monkey's, small fish teeth, shining golden scales, and a voice like a flute. I decided to make her a half human, half fish creature instead. I wanted to add an interesting element to her look by giving her a semi-Japanese body tattoo. You can see the carps swimming in the water stencil below her. I cut out pieces of thick paper to depict the image of the rising sun because of the Japanese theme (since Japan’s name “Nipon” means the sun's origin). It’s shining rays on the mermaid’s scales, which are supposed to glisten like gold.

Photogram #2.
The couple is in a passionate embrace. He is completely drawn to her beauty, only looking into her face. She looks straight at the viewer, probably with a knowing smile of what is to come. The man also has a Japanese body tattoo. The rectangular border on the top left is turtles in waves. The bottom border is again water and fish, keeping with the mermaid theme.

Photogram #3
Here the mermaid is devouring him because he tried to kill her for immortality. See how the tables have turned? In Japan cherry blossoms are believed to symbolize the transient nature of life, because of their short blooming times. I overlaid her on top of cherry blossoms to give a blending effect, like she’s an unnatural force of nature. I added the cherry blossom stencil on the left border to tie in with the transient life theme. The beautiful cherry blossoms contrast with the grisly nature of what is happening between the couple, but they also symbolize how fleeting life is. In his attempt at immortality he ends up ending his life. When we search for everlasting life, we end up missing what’s important in our life now.