SIRENS

Captured at the dusk of Half Moon Bay, the mysticism of the concept is expressed through ethereal photography.Light glosses over a silver horizon, luminescent against a figure with long, tumbling hair. Intricate nets of beads, shimmering pearls, and drops of silver embellish the draped garments on their body. Iridescent hues, reminiscent of overcast waters press against the outlines of glistening skin. Silhouetted against the dark sky, another pale body emerges from the shore. Cascading waves of gossamer silk emulate the lustrous sheen of the ocean’s surface. Featuring garments from emerging Chinese-Australian designers, a fluidity of forms collide against the body.

The otherworldly siren exists in a state between human and mythology, land and sea, fiction and reality.Sirens signify the allure of the unfamiliar, expressing what the curious mind may be unable to comprehend. In Greek mythology, sirens were creatures of the sea, who lured fisherman to fatality with their song. The etymology of the word Siren comes fromσειρά (seirá, "rope, orcord"); meaning, to tie, bind and trap. This is the function of the siren: to bind people to the possibility of desire.According to tales, the lyricism of their voices would be carried by winds over waters, ensnaring victims with lilting melodies. Sirens were heard first by the ear, before being seen by the eye. Fascination was created for their listeners through the mystery of the voice; a curiosity for the unknown that becomes dangerous, an annihilation. Echoing through the shore, the siren becomes a symbol which embodies the tension between desire, death and surrender

Writing - Hannah Wu