How could I go to New Orleans and not take a death photoshoot? This is the land of vampires, ghosts, corpses that won't stay buried, zombies, and a general shroud of mystery. So I traipsed into the swamp-like backyard of the AirBnB I was staying at tried to make some of that mystery palpable through imagery.
A Descent Photoshoot
Descent Shoots are photoshoots where a model reenacts the myth of Inanna’s Descent to Ereshkigal. Learn more HERE.
If you’ve been following along you remember the overview I gave of Descent Shoots in V1I1. I am continuing the explanation of these shoots with my interpretation of the 7 gates of death found in the myth of Inanna’s descent to Ereshkigal. In the translation of the myth (which you can read HERE) the individual significance of each gate is not discussed beyond noting what piece of regalia is stripped from Inanna at each barrier. I felt it would help my models connect more deeply to the descent process if each gate had a particular significance. To give each gate meaning, I applied a loose interpretation of the seven chakras, mixed with my understanding of the tangible to disintegrated spectrum.
Gate 1— Turban Removed from her Head
Going through the first gate is when you will feel the most powerful and sure of your direction. This is the moment when you are at your fullest vitality and are consciously choosing to descend. You are grounded in your belief that stripping away your identity will be a profound experience.
Gate 2— Lapis Lazuli Beads Removed from her Neck
The second gate is where you feel the most enthusiastic about your descent. You begin to lose yourself to this passion, in a state of flow that dances you to darkness and divine oblivion.
Gate 3— Twin Egg Shaped Beads Removed from her Breast
At gate three, your assuredness and passion for the descent light fire to your will. This is needed to complete this downward journey. You begin to feel forces pulling apart your identity. Your first reaction is to hold even tighter to your self-conception and your determination to complete this decent.
Gate 4— Breast Plate Removed from her Chest
Now you feel grief. Gate four is where you begin to mourn the loss of connection you had in the upper-world. You now feel empathy for all sisters, mothers, and friends who have also taken this road to confront death and their shadow self. Your heart is flooded with love for their courage and your connection to these powerful women helps to guide you forward as the journey becomes markedly darker. Your circle of self has expanded to include your loved ones.
Gate 5— Golden Ring Removed from her Hand
Now the light is significantly lower and it’s harder to pinpoint the boundaries of your identity. Gate five brings on a drastically different state of consciousness than you are used to and you are afraid. You use the lessons of the past gates and the new lesson of this gate, creativity, to shift what’s left of your perception so that you can be present with and commune with this darkness.
Gate 6— Lapis Lazuli Measuring Rod and Line Removed from her Hand
At gate six, you feel a flood of insight from everything that is. Your form and individual identity has left you. You are dancing as dark intuition. This would be the moment where “life flashes in front of your eyes,” but it’s more accurately described as knowing and becoming everything that exists.
When I work with a model to choose seven layers of regalia to remove, I usually advise a mixture of practicality (what seven layers can all be worn at once?) and identity (what adornment represents you?). Unlike the regalia that Inanna removes, for the photoshoot I suggest that each adornment layer cover your entire body. This is so that removing a layer feels like shedding a complete skin of yourself, like a snake, to reveal the next layer of your identity that will also die during the shoot. Examples of layers are: wigs and overcoats, shawls that cover your full body, robes or kimonos, dresses, shirt and skirt combinations, leggings, tights, intimate apparel. The bottom layer (below the 7th piece of regalia) can be a nude slip, nude undergarments, or complete nudity— depending on the comfort and desired vulnerability of the model.
As you can imagine choosing regalia becomes very personal for each model and thus changes the significance of each gate. My interpretation above is only meant to be a starting place designed to facilitate a deeper connection to the descent process. Ultimately, each gate should represent a different aspect of the models identity, thus making the significance of the barrier unique to that individual.
How would you define the seven gates of death?
Photo Series: The Intersection of Mythology, Photography, and the Underworld.
Shrouded in full regalia, she prepares to go through the first gate.
About six months ago I did a death-themed photoshoot with my family friend, who is an amazing artist and a therapist. I was telling her about my early photographic exploration of #thebenefitsofcontemplatingdeath, and she immediately told me about this book she was reading. The book wasDescent to the Goddess by Sylvia Brinton Perera. It is about a Sumerian myth that is one of the oldest myths about the underworld. In the book Perera discusses the value of confronting death and assimilating our shadow selves. Well, I had been looking for a way to deepen the death photoshoots for awhile and this myth seemed like a perfect structure.
Here is a (very) simplified version of the myth: Inanna, the goddess of heaven and earth, decides to go visit her sister Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld. To get to her sister, Inanna has to pass through 7 gates. She has to remove one piece of her divine regalia at each gate, until she reaches Ereshkigal naked — without any markers of her identity. Here, naked and vulnerable, Inanna dies. It’s ok though, because some trusted minions appeal to the better nature of some other gods, and one of them revives Inanna. When Inanna comes back from the underworld it’s as though she’s gained a new aspect of herself.
I turned this myth into the basis of my descent shoots. During this experience, the model removes one layer of regalia every few minutes. At the end she is either nude or wearing a nude slip. This simulates the model losing her identity and becoming as vulnerable as one can be. Can you be more vulnerable then when you are facing death?
A few months after our initial conversation, I was able to do a descent shoot with my family friend. Check out the rest of the photos below:
Her first piece of regalia was removed as she passed through the first gate of the underworld. She has started the process of shedding her identity and becoming more vulnerable.
Through the second gate, and forces begin to pull apart your you-ness.
Through the third gate. If death strips you of everything does it make you one with everything too?
Through the fourth gate. Death is the ultimate letting go.
Through the fifth gate. One piece of regalia has been removed at each gate, destroying any indicators of identity.
Through the sixth gate. Almost at the foot of Ereshkigal’s throne.
Through the seventh gate. Bowing to death. Confronting our shadow.
Thank you for looking at this descent series. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be making descent shoots available by appointment September 2016. Stay tuned!
A few Chakra Nation Hoopers pics from a photoshoot I did with my Mama just before Christmas.
Check out my Mom's awesome blog HERE.
a dreamland transition
Photography Textbook
Senior Brunch Accessories
Tropics of Central Cali.
Entropy at the train station.
Intrigue on Santa Rosa St.
around the neighborhood