Total Run Time: 10:58
This short-form documentary chronicles photographer and artist Matthew Rolston’s inquiry into the subjects of death and death-denial, a journey that raises questions about the existence of objective truth in photography.
The film takes the viewer from Los Angeles, California to Palermo, Sicily, as it documents the creation of Rolston’s compelling photographic series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits, comprised of theatrically lighted and staged images of a selection of Christian mummies housed in the famous Capuchin catacomb.
Expressed as monumentally-scaled, richly-colored prints, Rolston’s Vanitas series examines the mummified remains of some of Palermo’s most prominent citizens, both religious and aristocratic – a subject much-visited by artists, writers and poets throughout the catacomb’s more than 500-year history.
For more information about Matthew Rolston and Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits, please visit:
https://www.vanitasproject.com
