Visual nostalgia and the art of reinvention
Show of hands: who watched something weird at a young age that left you feeling confused, maybe even a little disturbed?
For me, it was a stop-motion short that aired during Sesame Street. It featured an anthropomorphic orange singing the opera Carmen under a spotlight. She had daisy petal eyelashes, a walnut nose, and a rubber band mouth.
80’s children’s television programming was wild.
It was strange. It was jarring. It upset me. And it stuck. I mean, see for yourself.
Turning discomfort into inspiration
Decades later, that orange resurfaced, uninvited but insistent. So I did what artists do: I turned discomfort into inspiration. I deconstructed the original, stripped it to its essentials, and rebuilt it with my own visual language. I gave this fruit diva an editorial makeover.
What I kept
Daisy flower petals
Walnut
Rubber band
What I changed
I swapped the orange for a neutral-colored balloon. I took her off the kitchen counter and placed her on a deep green backdrop. I gave her the drama she always deserved. Then I reconstructed her face using the same elements, but this time with intention and creative control.
Childhood memory, two ways
First deconstructed, then reconstructed. This was part memory, part makeover, and part reclamation. I took something that once confused me and reshaped it into something beautiful on my own terms.
The result is an unsettling yet elegant homage to a formative and weird childhood memory.
Check out the original clip here
For more experiments in visual storytelling, explore my Creative tools, reach out if you are looking for conceptual photography, or follow along on Instagram @sara.anderson.photo.