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, and presents a powerful narrative on beauty, mortality and art.
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
