Beautiful Editorials: Las Muertas

Photographer Tim Tadder has created a haunting photo series called ‘Las Muertas.’ Inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead. The skull-painted women pays subtle homage to the festival’s Aztec roots where Mictecacihuatl (a girl who was sacrificed as an infant) the goddess of the underworld, was worshipped.

Tadder’s photos, created with the help of makeup artist Krisztianna and costume designer Julia Reeser, are indeed worthy of worship. The vibrant colors of these Persephones mark the subject as important, the symbolism suggesting something deadly and beautiful– but their faces are casual, indifferent, or curious. They walk the land of the dead as its mistresses, but their relationship with their surroundings is impersonal.