Artist Georges Dumas is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From ‘ The Queen’ series. To see Georges’ body of work, click on any image.

40 Versions (I Never Know which one I am going to be)

“The Queen” is a series of 12+1 artworks exploring the theme of power. More specifically, it is the political, symbolical and moral aspects of power which are presented through those images combining photography, digital composition and acrylic painting.

In a contemporary world where leaders are mostly men dressed in suits, the use of a female figure and a crown is meant to show the archetypes behind the behaviors and decisions of today’s rulers. The titles of the artworks are very often references to the Western culture, from literature to history and from classical painting to pop music: Snow White and the Queen of Alice in Wonderland coexist with Elizabeth I, Gollum and Judith, while a song of post-punk band Wire can be heard before The Smiths illustrate with their music the concept of the King’s Two Bodies invented by Ernst Kantorowicz.

Even Emperor Nero can be seen through the figure of the Dancing Queen. Through the different postures, power is shown as a narcissist disease, the mirror of one’s ambition, a burden requiring courage, bravery, cynicism or self-sacrifice, the monopoly of legitimate violence (including death sentence), the frailty of the human condition, the inconsequence of some decisions, the mortality of rulers and the immortality of power itself.