A Sibylline Story Shot On The Balearic Islands
- Name
- Silvia Conde
- Location
- Spain
- Words
- Rosie Flanagan
On the largest of the Balearic Islands, a sibylline story from Keef Palas and Sol Dela Villa plays out. Mysterious and desolate, this tale of romance and mermaids has overtones of tragedy—are the squid bone glasses more than they appear to be?
In the photo series and film, a woman swims through time and space. In conversation with Silvia Conde, the photographer, and Sabrina Hubert, the videographer, it becomes clear that this was intentional. The piece was designed as “an invitation to daydream”, Hubert says. To create this whimsical story the Berlin-based friends collaborated with Spanish fashion labels Keef Palas (featured previously on IGNANT) and Sol Dela Villa. “Though our work was created very much in the moment, it drags you into a faraway memory, a weird kind of future, a dream from another world”, explains Hubert.
Whilst shooting, it was the Keef Palas glasses that caught their attention: “The model, in fact, didn’t see anything but the black shadows behind the cuttlefish bones and pebbles, she was blind wearing them.” Reminiscent of the sound that a shell makes when one holds it to their ear—an experience of the ocean that is both real and unreal—Hubert likened the cuttlebone glasses to virtual reality goggles. So what is it that the woman wearing them sees? Accompanied by a poem penned by the Greek writer, Effie Efthymiadi, this ethereal post-apocalyptic story becomes attached to a different reality—set adrift, just beyond arm’s reach.
Designer: Marta M. Soldevilla | Styling: Claire O’Keefe | Art Direction & Photography: Silvia Conde | Video & Music: Sabrina Hubert | Model: Kelly Taylor | Photography Assistant: Marcus Mähner | Production Assistant: Faro Lacueva | Styling Assistant: Florence Campbell | Text: Effie Efthymiadi | Voice: Megan Courtis