We are all creatures of our past and present.  Influenced and affected by what has come before us, as well as our current experiences, our future selves a hybrid of what was and is.  In her latest portraiture, Australian photographer Jacqui Stockdale weaves fantastical tales of identity inherited and identity discovered.

Her work has a vintage, tin-type feel, yet the figures we see are utterly contemporary.  Modern masks mimic ancient ritualistic garb and figures pose rigidly as if sitting for a daguerrotype.  But there seems to be a defiance in each face, a fight against a past, perhaps an assertion of the future.

To see more of Jacqui Stockdale‘s intriguing work, please visit her website.  This latest series of work can be seen in person at Helen Gory Gallery in Australia.

All images via the artist’s representing gallery website.