photo by Jon Wiederhorn
Generally, Slipknot percussionist and photographer Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) shoots eccentric characters and unsettling subject matter and then uses various unconventional tools to manipulate the images into things that are even more bizarre or macabre. But for "Sister Brother Devil" Crahan used a computer plug-in called Mirror to summon the beast. Click "more" to see the photo and read Clown's comments.
I have these two-headed Siamese twins in a big jar. I was studying them quite a bit because I love the fact that they're in formaldehyde in this jar, so there's a certain amount of distortion that takes place when you shoot them behind the glass. For this shot, I was messing around with some plug-ins from Mirror. It really intrigues me because you can create things that are not of this reality.
On the one hand I have my Siamese twins, but at the same time I have created this demonic sexual being in the middle that showed up because of the way I shot it it and the space and the dimension and the mathematics and I was able to bring something out. Normally, I don't like working with filters and plug-ins. I like to use hard techniques. I'm very influenced by Joel Peter Whitkin in that respect.
But Mirror is fascinating because in this situation, by shooting this picture the way I needed to shoot it, I was able to bring out something that was hiding its face. And it's very frightening when that happens and you have to step back and ask yourself what is real and what is not real? What do we see and what don't we see? I brought it out and I showed its face. It's very sexual and it's like the devil in both of the pigs. He's female and male, he's part of both and death is all around us.
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