Book of the Dead 2001

Arsen Savadov’s photograph "Book of the Dead" uses colour to unsettle you; the artist uses this dramatic hue to convey a sense of despair. I imagine Savadov setting up the scene, directing his models into this tableau. It’s like he's staging a ritual, maybe something ancient and unknowable. The bodies, marked and vulnerable, create this sense of fragility and mortality. Savadov's work reminds me of other artists, like Joel-Peter Witkin. But Savadov’s got his own thing going on; he's exploring these themes of death, history, and identity. It hits you in the gut. Savadov invites us to confront the unsettling and ambiguous aspects of the human condition. It feels like he's trying to provoke something in us.