Not only is Kirsty Mitchell’s six-year-long photography project – which pays tribute to her late mother – one of the most beautiful things you will ever see, but also one of the most funded in the history of Kickstarter.
Titled The Wonderland Project, the series has reached a whopping £224,638 in pledges, well over its £70,000 target.
Mitchell, an award-winning Fine art photographer from the UK, lost her mother Maureen to a brain tumour in 2009. The project was Mitchell’s way of honouring her, as well as a way for her to come to terms with her grief.
She started the deeply personal photographic project with hair and make-up artist Elbie Van Eeden on a shoe-string budget, making all the costumes and props by hand.
But within months of the project’s beginning it had gained a huge following, with people connecting with the underlying emotions from all over the globe. What began as a small summer project suddenly grew into a journey spanning half a decade.
Last week Mitchell added the project on Kickstarter, in the hopes of turning the series into a book. She met her £70,000 deadline in less than 10 hours, and was overwhelmed by the response.
Talking about her mother, Mitchell said: “She was an English teacher and her life’s great passion was literature and storytelling.
“After I lost her I struggled greatly, I was unable to remember her without being haunted by the memories of the hospital.
“Slowly the concept of creating an unexplained storybook without words, dedicated to her began to form. It felt like the perfect way to celebrate who she was as a person and the legacy she left behind.”
The narrative of the series was formed through faded book illustrations, mixed up with Mitchell’s dreams and experience of mourning. The end results are a stunning yet surreal fantasy world that captures the heart and imagination of viewers everywhere.
Take a look at more of this fascinating project below.