An Art of Sorrows

MANILA, Philippines -- With his popular Headshots clinic and fashion work, Niccolo Cosme is fast becoming the go-to photographer for glamour portraiture. Yet, he is also passionate about a different kind of photographic representation: capturing the iconography of the Mater Dolorosa.

Cosme has started a series of portraits of models depicting the Mater Dolorosa, or Our Lady of Sorrows, one of the key subjects of Marian art. Elaborate and resplendent, the portraits are a new, expressive form of fashion photography. Model Gilmarie Pacamarra, in his latest portrait, is seen as the weeping mother, with a resplendor, or blinding ray of light, around her face, clasped hands suggesting hope, and tears of blood, which Cosme says represents "current issues."

"The Mater Dolorosa is one of my greatest inspirations," says Cosme, who did a similar portrait for the second issue of the award-winning style and culture magazine, Imagine, using Philippines Next Top Model winner Grendel Arevalo. "I get inspiration from pain, which I think I was able to put across in this image."

"I have often resorted to using Christian iconography to convey messages," Cosme adds. "These images are popular, familiar and iconic. Filipinos can and will connect to this image."

Cosme says he plans to make more Mater Dolorosa portraits with different styles and expressions.

In between making clothes for both celebrity and regular clients, fashion designer Kenneth Chua finds time to indulge in one of his artistic passions, religious representation. A multi-disciplined artist who also sculpts and paints murals, Chua has a growing devotion to Marian and Catholic images, designing icons such as the Our Lady of Czestochova of Poland (also known as the Black Madonna), and images of St. Rita and Joan of Arc.

In a tribute to the Blessed Virgin, Chua has painted the "Seven Sorrows of Mary," which depicts the sorrows in her life, as contained in the Bible and is a popular Catholic devotion. The painting hangs in his Makati atelier, which is also surrounded by his collection of images.