Madama Butterfly

Here we are with my images for Puccini's perennial tear-jerker, Madama Butterfly. I wanted this to be simple...a timber and paper house with moving walls, an expanse of grass and a view to the harbour below.

With this series I pay homage to the undeniably kitsch visual language of 50's and 60's album covers and print work. Especially the Japonisme from the era, all hyper-saturated pastels, combined with some of the more traditional watercolour landscapes from the 19th century, then using a more monochrome palette as the story gets sadder and darker.

One of the best things about the traditional use of Japanese architecture is the visual versatility and how easy it is to, with a few simple adjustments, vary the dynamics of the space. Each image depicts the stage space at significant moments of the score.