Surreal Shrink-Wrapped People Portraits Visualize Vacuum-Sealed Love Bubbles

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

A creative who goes by the name Photographer Hal often depicts people in confined spaces. While that might initially sound distressing, Hal’s work points out that this isn’t always the case. His series Flesh Love All was created with a desire to express love in its many forms, from romantic to familial. Only love, he notes, “may have the power to bring all things together, even across race and disparities.” This idea led him to create a space where love is enveloped—literally. The images are of people and their surroundings as vacuum-packed and preserved in plastic.

Shot inside homes and outside of them, the subjects are bound in plastic wrap where all of the air has been sucked away. This distorts their features, mashes their clothing, and often smushes their faces. Most critically, it makes it so they are fused together and cannot independently move. “The things you love will be one,” Hal writes, “and the world will be one. I think that is an ideal form of love.”

Although this might make you feel uneasy—especially if you’re claustrophobic—there is a romantic notion in Hal’s conceptual work. Sometimes we might grow tired or annoyed with the closest people in our lives. After all, they know how to push our buttons. But when faced with the prospect without them, we want to hold them tight and preserve who (and what) we love so dearly. Flesh Love All is an outward display of the deep feelings we keep within.

A creative who goes by the name Photographer Hal often depicts people in confined spaces.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

His series Flesh Love All was created with a desire to express love in its many forms, from romantic to familial.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

The images are of people and their surroundings as vacuum-packed and preserved in plastic.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

“The things you love will be one, and the world will be one. I think that is an ideal form of love.”

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

Flesh Love All is an outward display of the deep feelings we keep within.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love All' by Photographer Hal

In his series Flesh Love Returns, Hal returns to photographing vacuum-sealed couples.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love Returns' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love Returns' by Photographer Hal

The series features the couple, encased in plastic, in their most important place. (The surroundings are not in plastic.)

Photography Series Called Flesh Love Returns by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love Returns' by Photographer HalPhotography Series Called 'Flesh Love Returns' by Photographer Hal

“Two people were packed perfectly in their best place,” Hal writes.

Photography Series Called 'Flesh Love Returns' by Photographer Hal

Photographer Hal: Website | Instagram 

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Photographer Hal.

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Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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