Veiled
'Veiled' is a series of figures draped in vibrant reds, concealing identities to merge personal and universal narratives. This collection explores the breadth of 'the mother', of human emotion, from passionate fervor to stark conflict, expressed through a compelling use of photography, AI, Photoshop, and the paintbrush.
Artist: Augustus Rivers Brightman
2023
Red. All red. A figure, or perhaps an absence. No face. No trace of a face. Anonymity as presence, presence as void. Just red, and space, and the assumption of form.
Scarlet-clad, stillness draped—a shape unvoiced, unkeyed.
silent-form, cloaking—untold, unclaimed.
the figure looms—mute,
swathed in red, life’s swell beneath—still, nameless, expectant.
Robed red, she waits—poised, hushed, heavy with untold.
arrayed in silence, gravid, she stands—elegant, fierce, secrets close.
The 'Veiled' series by Augustus Rivers Brightman fuses traditional portraiture with modern abstraction through AI, photography, Photoshop, and paint. Subjects are adorned in rich, red garments that cascade, sometimes appearing to suspend, evoking divine or ceremonial connotations. The omission of facial features abstracts the figures into archetypes, redirecting focus from individual identity to the universal female form, the narrative's core.
Red is selected for its symbolic potency, representing power, passion, and the sacred, contrasting sharply with the figures' veiled identities and creating tension between vivid presence and obscured personality.
Varied yet understated backgrounds enhance the red's dominance and the figures' presence. Strategic lighting hints at sanctity and sacrifice.
Rivers Brightman's work critiques identity's fluidity within societal and cultural constructs, celebrating form and color while contemplating the archetype of 'the mother'."
