Ghostly Portraits Captured Using Stencils and Light-Painting

France-based photographer Fabrice Wittner has a neat project titled “Enlightened Souls” that consists of ghostly portraits created by light-painting with stencils (which are themselves created from actual portraits). Wittner first started the project in May 2011 after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I first thought of it as an artistic and morale contribution to the 6.3 quake’s aftermath. I used stencils to paint enlightened characters to remember human losses and to show the spirit of a wouned city. It turned out to be an intersting way to share ideas and feelings about society and life. After all, this is what street art is made for.

After completing his Christchurch series, he turned his attention to creating portraits of Vietnam’s village children in the country’s capital city.


Image credits: Photographs by Fabrice Wittner and used with permission

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