Dublin-based queer Irish/Italian photographer Alex Del Chill has launched ‘Metallic Cocoon’, the first chapter of his visionary photo saga Project Transhumanism. Captured at Flux Studios, the series merges mythic imagery with cyber-inspired aesthetics, using latex chrysalises, chain-covered sets, and dreamlike styling to reimagine human transformation.
At the heart of the project is a radical, collaborative spirit. Del Chill creates immersive environments where artistic roles blend and evolve organically. In ‘Metallic Cocoon’, model Saoirse A. Jackson channels a theatrical, otherworldly presence, while makeup artist Gavin Higgins experiments with gritty, distorted textures. Stylist and world builder Juno crafts surreal visuals featuring claw-like accessories, silver wire, and layered latex to construct a haunting, sticky-looking aesthetic.
More than a photoshoot, Project Transhumanism is a long-form artistic process. It builds inclusive creative spaces with LGBTQ+ artists at the centre, encouraging personal expression and skill-sharing across disciplines. “We’re building entire universes together,” Juno explains. “The materials metal, latex, claws evoke something primordial and futuristic at once. It’s ritualistic. It’s a story of becoming.”
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Alex Del Chill’s approach counters today’s tech-obsessed, AI-driven narratives by rooting transformation in tangible, analogue collaboration.
“I was thinking of the theme of letting go to open the door for something better,” Del Chill explains. “A character who endures a lot and it seems meaningless but then finally the purpose of the suffering is revealed and they get the bliss or fruits of their labour. Breaking free of the struggle of the cocoon to a fully altered more powerful form.”
Del Chill traces his love of photography back to a formative moment at age 10, photographing Greek ruins with his grandmother’s camera. “She told me I had a gift,” he recalls. “Now, I want to use that gift to show others how imagination and self-expression can become tools for transformation.”
As ‘Metallic Cocoon’ unfolds, it offers a striking first glimpse into a much larger world, one where myth, technology, and queer identity collide to tell new stories of metamorphosis, power, and becoming.
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