Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
It seems like Draxtor Despres, the creator of the ongoing mixed reality (Linden Lab sponsored) mini-documentary series The Drax Files: World Makers, is working his way through a bucket list of his most sought after subjects. Last month it was the quirky but elusive designer Nylon Pinkney, now it's Whiskey Monday, one of the most recognized artists active in Second Life today (and a favorite here on NWN).
I'm not exaggerating when I say that the latest episode gave me shivers. Whiskey is known for her highly surreal virtual photography and the carefully staged scenes she uses to accomplish it. On top of being perfectly framed and visually impeccable, her images are hauntingly emotive -- there's a lot of personal honesty in them, even though the artist herself is often much more opaque. That's what makes this episode of The Drax Files such an effective one-two punch: It reveals Whiskey's process in more detail than most of us would be privy to otherwise, on top of revealing Whiskey herself. Knowing that she uses minimal Photoshop and deletes her scenes once she's photographed them makes her gallery even more captivating, but so does better knowing her. I suppose that's what makes this series so interesting in general, but in this case it hits that much harder.
Check out more of Whiskey's work over on Flickr, or catch up on the entire Drax Files: World Makers series on Draxtor's YouTube channel
TweetJanine Hawkins (@bleatingheart on Twitter, Iris Ophelia in Second Life) has been writing about virtual worlds and video games for nearly a decade, and has had her work featured on Paste, Kotaku, Jezebel and The Mary Sue.
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