Weight of the World: Stellar by Deuzeman Photography

'It's a cruel, cruel world to face on your own 

A heavy cross to carry along 

The lights are on but everyone's gone 

And it's cruel'

I don't often post religious imagery.  It has nothing to do with my personal beliefs, or my own faith, it's more that historically religion has been used to harm more than to help.  Sadly, lessons were not learned, and over the last few years, the far-right has again tapped into religion to justify their bigotry and cruelty.

I make an except however on religious holidays.  Regardless of what we believe personally, many holidays are soaked in religious tradition and history.  Back in 2020, I was looking for images to celebrate Good Friday on the site.  I was fortunate to have been following a model on Model Mayhem who had some powerful shots on theme.  The model was Bas, and the artist who captured the shots was Jan Deuzeman.

I featured their work in two posts that Easter, (HERE:) and have been fortunate to have featured Jan's work many time since.   This year, The Netherlands based photographer's Easter shoot was inspired by a song by the Indie pop band Gossip. The lyrics of the song Heavy Cross talk about what a cruel world it is, especially when your in a position to face on your won.

Jan asked ,model Stellar J. (Mortemmodel) to take on the role of the cross bearing Messiah. Jan and Stellar have worked together multiple times, and the Netherlands based model is always up for Jan's creative themes and ideas. For this shoot, Jan also wanted to expand the theme beyond just the Biblical references.  The goal, was to show the burdens of the universal cruelties that we all must face in this modern world.  So many of the  problems started long before we were born, but are still playing themselves out generation after generation.  From wars to climate change to more personal struggles, no one is really free from carrying a multitude of heavy burdens, not just at Easter, but each and every day.

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