Seeing is believing: the capacity of the manipulated photograph to represent scenes of mythology and the supernatural

This illustrated paper explores the capacity of the manipulated photograph to represent scenes of mythology and the supernatural. Can a photograph, which is said to be an index of the real, render a mythical realm into a believable scene? Practices such a double exposures and combination printing have historically been used to create famous faked images of the supernatural, such as the Cottingley Fairies images and the ‘Surgeon’s photograph’ of the Loch Ness monster. Photography has a causal link with reality and as such a carefully manipulated image has the power to deceive or persuade the viewer. In her photography project ‘Realm’ Carolyn Lefley explores this apparent truthtelling phenomenon by constructing double exposure photographs that create a layering of realities. A familiar domestic interior and a potentially mythological landscape combine to create scenes of make-believe, which reference texts such as Alice in Wonderland and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass and into the wardrobe, all of these paths lead from the realm of the real, into the realm of myth. The kingdom of Narnia is entered through an ordinary wardrobe. The photograph of a homely interior (the real) becomes a portal into a mythical realm (the unseen). The photographs in ‘Realm’ depict new image-worlds that occupy a liminal space between reality and mythology. Digital post-production techniques have been utilised to achieve these multi-layered images. The paper will conclude with a consideration of the next era in photography, that of computer simulated reality.