Your Sweet Angel

The glamour shoot: Your Sweet Angel

Six images built around the same room: a wall of damask paper in deep blue-green, a petrol velvet sofa, a side table with an oval mirror, and a lamp with a pale shade that keeps a warm patch of light alive in an otherwise dark interior. The palette stays between two poles, the amber of the artificial light and the teal of the surfaces, with skin and white lace acting as a third, lighter tone.

Pairin inhabits the space without forcing it. In the first image she appears seated on the edge of the sofa, her body turned toward the light and her gaze slipping outside the frame, as if listening to something beyond the room. A pale net dress lets the tattoos on arms, legs and hips read clearly, while a white feather stole rests behind her back. The string of pearls held between her fingers returns in several photographs, sometimes let fall, sometimes brought close to the face.

The tighter portraits close in on face and hands: lowered eyes, dark lips, lace gloves brushing the jaw, a bright choker at the base of the neck. In these frames the background reduces to a blurred texture and attention concentrates on the transitions between fabric, skin and ink.

Further on, the figure shifts across the sofa and toward the table, where the mirror returns a fragment of face and feathers. Light continues to arrive from one side only, leaving much of the body and the surroundings in shadow; the tones drop lower, the green of the room almost black. The last image shows the figure standing, hands joined in front of the chest, the stole slid down the forearm, the background by now without detail. The overall atmosphere is quiet and restrained, with an angelic reference entrusted only to the feathers and the gesture of the hands.